3 NDFB(S) militants gunned down in Assam encounter

Three militants belonging to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sonitpur district near Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on Friday.

Sonitpur superintendent of police Sanjukta Parashar told PTI the encounter took place when a joint team of police, CRPF-Cobra battalion and army were conducting a search operation for NDFB(S) cadres at Mainaoshree Paharpur.

When the forces approached an NDFB(S) camp where a group of militants were hiding, there was an exchange of gunfire in which three insurgents were killed on the spot and four others fled to the dense forest, she said.

The security forces destroyed the extremists’ camp, Parashar said, adding the slain militants were identified as NDFB(S) ‘platoon commander’ Raikhoo, ‘section commander’ Gothal and another named Aranga, the SP said.

A search operation is continuing to track the ultras who fled, she said.

Police said three pistols, two grenades, eight rounds of ammunition and five mobile handsets were recovered from the slain militants.

NDFB-S had gunned down 14 people and injured over 20 others at Balajan in Assam’s Kokrajhar district on August 5 and killed a couple in Chirang district in the early hours of August 18.