Bru rebels kill 12 of rival camp

AGARTALA, July 23: Seeking to avenge the massacre of over 100 of its activists recently, the Bru National Liberation Front yesterday mowed down 12 National Liberation Front of Tripura rebels at Saikarbari in Tripura's Dhalai district. Sources said a group of NLFT rebels had just sat down for breakfast when heavily-armed Bru militants raided their hideout in the thickly-wooded Saikarbari area. Twelve of the NLFT men were killed on the spot, while eight escaped by jumping into a gorge behind the camp. Caught unawares by the sudden raid, the NLFT rebels could not put up a semblance of a fight, the sources said. The Bru rebels took away some sophisticated weapons and a sizeable quantity of ammunition from the hideout, they added. A clash between the two outfits was on the cards after NLFT militants massacred over 100 Bru rebels at Thangnan in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. BNLF chief Suryamoni Reang, who was taken hostage by the NLFT on July 12, is still being held captive at a camp in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Sources said yesterday's retaliatory attack could be the beginning of a major conflagration between the BNLF and the NLFT. The two outfits were "friends" till the massacre in Bangladesh. The Reangs, for whom the BNLF is ostensibly waging war against the state, are likely to be the biggest losers if fratricidal clashes continue. A group of NLFT militants has reportedly already sneaked into the Taichhama area of North Tripura district to target the Reang population, including refugees staying in six relief camps. Apart from the NLFT, the Reangs could be targeted by tribal outfits which want them to return to Mizoram. Security has been beefed up in the area, particularly in the relief camps. The BNLF, fighting against "oppression of the Reangs", severed ties with the NLFT following differences over language and religion. The NLFT had insisted that the Reangs accept the Kokborok language and convert to Christianity. However, the Bru outfit said the Reangs would stick to the Kokbrua dialect and their original religion, a mishmash of Hinduism and animism. Sources said the massacre in the Chittagong Hill Tracts was the NLFT's way of making it clear that all other militant outfits in Tripura were subservient to it and would have to comply with its diktats.