Insurgency / Tripura

AIZAWL, May 26 : Mizoram council of ministers endorsed the draft prposals for laying down of arms by the underground Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) cadres and repatriation of Brus lodged in Tripura relief camps, state Chief Secretary said here today. HV Lalringa told PTI that the decision was taken by the council of ministers which met yesterday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Zoramthanga.

AGARTALA, May 17 – Six Border Security Force men, including an assistant commandant, were killed in an ambush by insurgents of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura on Thalcherra-Gobindabari road in Tripura’s Dhalai district today. Police said that two vehicles carrying BSF men of the 22nd battalion were returning to Chhamanu from Thalcherra area of the district when the insurgents lobbed two powerful grenades at them and then pumped bullets at the vehicles around 12.30 pm, killing six people on the spot. The ultras snatched one LMG, three SLRs and two carbines. The police said the...

AGARTALA, May 6 – The breakaway Biswamohan faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) today surrendered before the Tripura Governor DN Sahaya. A total of 72 militants including 22 women cadres laid down their firearms in a formal surrender ceremony held at Arundhutinagar Police-line. The group was led by six top commanders of NLFT Biswamohyan faction – self -styled vice-president Kamini Debbarma, general secretary Mantu Koloy, finance secretary Bishnuprasad Jamatia, assistant finance secretary Dhanu Koloy, chief of army staff Benoy Debbarma and deputy army chief of the...

New Delhi, May 5: The displaced Bru community of Mizoram is set to return home from the refugee camps of Tripura after seven years of uncertainty and hardship. The militant Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) and the Mizoram government have drafted an agreement on rehabilitation of the 40,000-odd members of the tribe who were hounded out of the state in 1997.

“The draft of the accord has been finalised and it will be placed before the cabinet for approval very soon. Almost all contentious issues have been resolved and the accord is likely to be signed after May 25, by which time the poll...

Agartala, May 5: On the eve of the surrender by NLFT rebels, the state police and the militants are allegedly working together to include a number of former militants, who had surrendered earlier and had received rehabilitation benefits. Official sources said leading commander Kamini Debbarma, a former Kokborok (tribal language) teacher by profession, had first laid down arms along with Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) militants in September 1988 and got back his job and other rehabilitation benefits.

Commander Dhanu Koloi, a former pump-operator in the public health engineering department...

Agartala, May 2: One of the major militant organisations of Tripura has accused police and paramilitary forces of pressuring its members to surrender by unfairly targeting their family members. “Police officers and security personnel have been raiding the houses of Tiger Force activists and leaders and asking family members and relatives to make their wards surrender,” the All Tripura Tiger Force said in a statement mailed to newspaper offices.

Publicity secretary Bikash Koloi quoted Tiger Force chief Ranjit Debbarma as saying he would not respond to the peace overtures by the government...

AGARTALA, May 1– Tripura People’s Democratic Forum, the political wing of the banned All Tripura Tiger Force, has alleged that the Tripura police were intimidating the relatives of insurgents to compel the outfit to sit for peace talks. In a press statement , a copy of which was given to PTI, the Front said it would negotiate only after three conditions were fulfilled by the government. “There was no point of joining the peace talks unless the conditions were fulfilled.”

The first condition was that those who entered Tripura after 1949 and whose names were not included in the voters’ lists...

NEW DELHI, April 7— The arms haul believed to be the country’s biggest so far has rattled the Government of Bangladesh so much so that it has reportedly put its airports on red alert restricting the movement of 29 persons including top leaders of ULFA, NDFB, ATTF and NLFT besides a few other militant outfits. While security agencies in the country continue to grope in the dark, reports of a confidential order by Bangladesh Government restricting movement of a few selected individual has aroused the curiosity of the intelligence agencies here. Sources revealed that the Look Out List delivered...

Agartala, March 10: Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga?s efforts to bring six militant outfits to the negotiation table have triggered dissension in the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

Sources said the NLFT faction led by Biswamohan Debbarma has opposed the chief minister?s move and ruled in favour of continuing militant activities. This led to a clash with the pro-negotiation members of the group led by Mantu and Dhanu Koloi on February 17. Though a lot of blood was shed, the exact number of casualties is not yet known. However, a number of NLFT rebels have fled their camps in...

Agartala, March 9: The comptroller and auditor general report, 2002-2003, tabled in the just-concluded session of the Tripura Assembly, has revealed that the 15 bullet-proof vehicles procured by the police for counter-insurgency operations are not bullet-resistant at all.

The vehicles continue to ply in the rebel-infested areas of the state, endangering the security forces.

According to the report, in 2001 the state police had acquired 15 bullet-proof Maruti Gypsy vehicles from the Union home ministry for Rs 65.14 lakh. The vehicles were then dispatched to the ordnance factory in Medak for...