DHD-J shatters truce hopes

- CRPF patrol party ambushed, one jawan killed, four injured

Silchar, July 9: Militants of the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) today ambushed a CRPF patrol, killing a jawan and injuring four others near Maibong town, 50km north of the district headquarters town of Haflong at 8.30 this morning.

The group’s unilateral three-month-long ceasefire expired on June 25 but it had refrained from any violence since May, indicating that it might extend the truce.

The district police fear that the ambush might be a harbinger of more attacks.
The south Assam DIG of police, Y.K. Gautam, said the incident occurred when troops of the CRPF’s 189 battalion were returning to their camp at Maibong after a nightlong patrol. A convoy of CRPF cars was trailing the team.

The slain sepoy was identified as Dipak Mandal. Havildars D.K. Rai and V. Prashad and constables Nissar Ahmed Tanti and Gagandeep, who were injured in the attack, are being treated at a CRPF camp. They are likely to be shifted to Haflong civil hospital.

Police sources at Maibong said nearly a dozen rebels had laid a trap on a hill slope from where they fired with their AK-47 rifles. The CRPF troops were caught unawares but did not lose much time in retaliating.

It could not be confirmed if the DHD (Jewel) rebels suffered any casualties.
This is the first major ambush by the group after a spate of attacks on railwaymen, truckers and civilians in the second week of May. The security forces are also interpreting the attack as a reprisal after the BSF dismantled a DHD (Jewel) camp at Dimadau Yapoo hills between Haflong and Dihangmukh villages on Monday.

Today’s attack has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the resumption of the NF Railway services between Silchar and Lumding. Railway services between these two towns were shut down on May 15 after a spate of guerrilla upheavals in the district. Nearly a dozen persons were killed during the attacks.

The railway employees working on the metre gauge track in the hill section had vacated their quarters and workstations and taken shelter at Badarpur, Silchar, Haflong and Lumding.
In another incident, three DHD (J) linkmen were apprehended from Rangapahar under Dhansiri police outpost in the district today. A .32 pistol was found in their possession.

Arms being smuggled through Barak Valley

Arms being smuggled through Barak Valley

From our Staff Reporter Sentinel assam
SILCHAR, June 20: A group of ULFA cadres belonging to the outfit’s 709th battalion is currently camping at Unokoti along the Tripura-Bangladesh border with a consignment of Chinese grenades, intelligence sources here revealed. The group has been waiting for several days for the right moment to sneak into Asom, added the sources.

According to the sources, Bangladeshi arms traffickers are active at Unokoti under the cover of the sizeable Muslim population living in Khasi hamlets of that area. A recent report of the Genes Intelligent Review (GIR), a leading US based defense analysis wing, claims that Chinese arms and ammunitions have started to reach the hands of north-east militant outfits in huge quantities through Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Illegal consignments of arms are being smuggled from the Unokoti foothills in the bordering Kailashar district of Tripura to Guwahati through Badarpur of Barak valley, the sources said. The huge consignment of arms recovered at Jorabat about six months back had also come through the same route, the sources claimed.

The Unokoti-Badarpur-Guwahati corridor is believed to be one of the four “safe passages” passing through the Barak valley. The valley, considered to be an island of peace, is used by various militant outfits of the region for illegal trafficking of arms and narcotics. Besides the ULFA, the KLO and the Maoists are using the Bhairengti (Mizoram)-Bhairabi (Hailakandi district)-Meghalaya-Asom route as their arms supply corridor, the sources revealed.

The other two favorite routes of the militants are the Moreh border at Manipur to Asom via Jiribam (Manipur) and Silchar, the district headquarter of Cachar district. The sources said that Silchar, surrounded by hilly terrains, also falls in another arms smuggling corridor from Kamalpur (Bangladesh)-Dimagiri (Mizoram) border to Guwahati via Lailapur and Bagabazar in Cachar district.

It is believed that several consignments of illegal arms and ammunitions are trafficked under the cover of essential commodities in goods carrier vehicles and this can be intercepted if the police becomes more vigilant. According to the sources, the Kanakpur Road leading to the National Highway in the outskirts of Silchar town is one such vulnerable area.