GUWAHATI, May 27? Militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) received a major blow as nine of its members were killed in an encounter with security forces in the Mahamaya Reserve Forest in Dhubri district in the early hours today. Police sources said here that acting on specific information received by the police, troops of the Red Horns Division of the Army ambushed a group of 10 NDFB militants near Bonshijhora village in the Mahamaya Reserve Forest area around 5 a m today. The militants tried to escape by firing at the troops and by lobbing grenades, but nine militants were killed in the half-an-hour-long gun-battle. One militant, however, managed to escape and efforts are now on to nab him.
The security forces recovered a number of arms and ammunition including one AK-74 Rifle, the latest of the AK series rifles, four AK-47 rifles, 240 rounds of ammunition, nine Chinese grenades, eight magazines and some documents relating to the activities of the NDFB from the spot. Till the time of filing of this report, three of the militants killed in the encounter have been identified. They are self-styled corporal Mogen Brahma, group commander Nangthaba and the district commander Digra. The other six are yet to be identified.
Police sources said that according to information available, the NDFB militants had come to the area to receive a consignment of weapons. According to reports, the consignment came from Tura area of Meghalaya through Goalpara district. However, it is yet to be ascertained whether the weapons were brought in from Bangladesh or not. An Army release said that the NDFB had been planning to launch operations against the security forces in Dhubri and Kokrajhar. It may be mentioned here that Army had moved into Dhubri district only recently following reports of movement of NDFB militants. NDFB militants, early this month, launched an attack on BLT men in Gauripur town in Dhubri district by lobbing grenades followed by indiscriminate firing, in which at least 10 persons were injured.
Our Dhubri Correspondent reports that the bodies of the militants were brought to Dhubri town later in the day for post-mortem examination. Meanwhile, as per information available, the weapons were brought from Garo Hills in an Ambassador car on May 25 and the Dhubri police managed to seize the car after the weapons were handed over. The driver of the car and a girl, who was travelling in the car, were also arrested yesterday. Police alerted the Army and para-military forces immediately after the incident, which led to the killing of the militants this morning.