Tura, August 1: Two area commanders of Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) – Philliport and Rangdat managed to escape from their hideout this morning, when Meghalaya police launched an operation against the outfit at Matrongre village, about 18 km from Resubelpara in North Garo Hills.
Resubelpara is about 90 km from Tura in West Garo Hills.
The operation against the outfit was conducted by Meghalaya’s elite special weapons and tactics (SWAT) and CRPF’s CoBRA commandos at about 5:30 am.
Superintendent of police, North Garo Hills, Jerry Marak said, “Acting on specific inputs about the presence of 20 GNLA cadres at Matrongre village, we launched an operation. We managed to locate the hideout this morning. The approaching police team where fired upon by the GNLA sentry on duty from a hillock”.
“The exchange of fire lasted for about 30 minutes. It was a makeshift camp in the jungle on a hilltop. The militants were on top of hillock and had tactical advantage. All the militants managed to flee from the spot during the encounter taking advantage of the hostile terrain. We have dismantled the camp”, he added.
No recoveries were made from the camp today.
On July 3, Philliport managed to escape in an operation conducted by security forces at Bolsal A’ding, near Resubelpara in North Garo Hills. During the operation, two CRPF personnel were injured.
On July 25, area commander Rangdat had managed to escape in an operation at Jogogre near Bajengdoba, about 80 km from Tura. In the crossfire between the security forces and the militants, two youths were injured.
In the last two months, at least 14 hideouts of the outfit have been raided by security forces. The counter-insurgency operations were launched after suspected GNLA rebels brutally murdered Jospin M. Sangma, 35, at Raja Ronggat near Chokpot on June 3 in the presence of her husband and four children.
Security forces, led by special weapon and tactics (SWAT) and CoBRA commandos, have been regularly conducting flushout operations across Garo hills. In two separate operations, GNLA “commander-in-chief” Sohan D. Shira had reportedly escaped from a hideout.
In another operation in East Garo Hills, the outfit’s “area commander” Ajan Momin alias Jimmy managed to escape.(SP News)
