Our Correspondent
Guwahati, February 16
Insurgent outfit Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT) suffered a body blow after seven of its top leaders including the “commander-in-chief” and “deputy commander-in-chief” were apprehended by a joint team of the police and the Army on Monday. Defence sources said the arrests were made from a hideout in the Amring forest area near a hamlet called Tapat in Hamren sub division of Karbi Anglong. Three top leaders, including the outfit’s chairman, finance secretary and auditor, were arrested over the past seven days.
“Based on leads received earlier from some arrested cadres about presence of a hideout inside the Amring forest area, the security forces launched a massive combing operation. Traversing cross country for over 16 hours through the thickly-forested and treacherous terrain, the joint team of the Army and the police managed to cordon of the cadres on Monday morning. After the resultant fire fight, the personnel managed to apprehend all seven cadres including the KPLT commander-in-chief Sunder Dera, deputy commander-in-chief Danger Ingti and two area commanders,” defence sources said.
The personnel also recovered arms, ammunition and war-like stores which included four AK series rifles, two pistols, a grenade launcher, 14 magazines of AK rifles, six magazines of pistols, 2,343 rounds of 7.62 caliber ammunition, 14 rounds of 9 mm caliber ammunition, dummy rifles for training of new recruits and various incriminatory documents such as extortion notes and demand money receipts.
“The series of operations and arrests have broken the backbone of the KPLT. The security forces are continuing with their relentless operations aiming to systematically wipe out the organisation and facilitate the return of peace to the region. Various underground groups across the state have been on the run since the time the security forces intensified their operations against them in the wake of the December 23 massacre of the Adivasis in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts of Assam,” the sources added.
