SWAT commandos raided a temporary hideout of GNLA cadres in a jhum field near Rambugre Songgital village, 8 kms from Williamnagar town, at 7:15 AM of Sunday.
The nine-member armed group exchanged fire with the advancing police team for several minutes before melting away into the nearby forests after one of their cadres fell to police bullets.
The deceased was identified from his GNLA identity card as one Rikman Ch Marak. He hailed from GNLA chief Sohan D Shira’s village of Chachatgre.
The encounter site is located across the Simsang river and not far from Chisobibra village.
Police recovered from the body of the deceased a pistol, a wireless communication handset, two mobile phones and GNLA documents.
The deceased was part of a group of militants under the command of hardcore senior GNLA leader Jackfruit Momin. Commander Jackfruit Momin was earlier overseeing the outfit’s operations in Dadenggre region of West Garo Hills. He is believed to have been involved in the abduction of then Dadenggre BDO P K Boro in 2012.
Meanwhile, Garo Hills police say that the three month long ongoing operation ‘Hill Storm’ against militant outfits including GNLA has begun to yield results.
“We have destroyed as many as 12 major camps of the GNLA in our district alone,” revealed East Garo Hills district police chief Davis Nestell R Marak while speaking to The Shillong Times on Sunday.
He also said that as many as 24 militants have been arrested by security forces and ten ultras killed while as many as 15 others have sustained injuries.
The operation which began on the 8th of July gained momentum over the weeks that followed with the highest concentration of raids being in the densely forested Durama hills located in East Garo Hills extending all the way to the southern district.
“The first camp to be destroyed was that of Sohan Shira’s own establishment. He managed to get away but one of his bodyguards was shot dead in the operation,” recalled the police chief as he went on to mention that even the general headquarters of the outfit housing as many as 150 cadres was destroyed soon after by security forces.
Source: The Shillong Times
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