Insurgency / Tripura

AGARTALA, February 13: The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has of late taken a keen interest in the Tripura militancy. According to intelligence reports, the Assam out fit is trying to unite the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT), the two rival outlawed groups, to launch a joint fight against the 'Indian government'. A joint meeting of the ATTF and NLFT was held last month at Srimangal (Sylhet) in Bangladesh where the ULFA commander Priyabrata Barua and his deputies were present. The ULFA has a strong base camp there. In fact the ULFA has been...

AGARTALA, February 12: Militants of banned National Liberation Front of Twipra (NLFT) snatched a carbine from a CRPF jawan while two militants of the outfit have been banned in separate incidents in West Tripura district, police said here today, reports PTI. A group of militants suddenly overpowered a CRPF jawan at Mungiabari when he was on road patrolling duty yesterday and snatched his carbine. Police said, when the jawan raised alarm, his colleagues who were on the same duty a bit away from him rushed at him but the ultras disappeared before they reach, police said. However, the insurgents...

AGARTALA, February 11: Tripura Upajati Gana Mukti Parisad, the ruling CPI-M's tribal wing, has charged the Trinamul state unit and the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity with forging a "clandestine alliance" with terrorist groups. TUGMP is worried over the manner in which the state's Opposition is maintaining a silence over the killing and attacks by armed insurgent groups. The TUGMP central executive committee, in its two-day meeting concluded here yesterday, approved the decision to launch an organised campaign in Tripura's hill areas to expose the rebels and the role of Opposition parties. The...

AGARTALA, February 11: Six hostages, including a teenaged girl, were freed from captivity following an encounter between security forces and NLFT insurgents at a jungle in RK Pur police station area of South Tripura district on Sunday, police said. NLFT militants fired at a joint team of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and District Armed Reserve (DAR) from their dideout forcing the security personnel to retaliate, police said. The six were rescued after the militants escaped following the brief gun-battle leaving the hostages behind, police said. There was no report of any casualty on either side...

AGARTALA, February 9: Binoy Debbarma, senior leader of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura and an executive member of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District, has threatened to go on a fast for an indefinite period. He decided to protest against the manner in which the state government allegedly encouraged the Jamatiya community leaders to indulge in excess against the poor tribal villagers at Killa, and the nearby areas of South Tripura in the past several days, in the name of 'search operation' to rescue the 21 Jamatiya activists earlier kidnapped by the NLFT. This was the first...

AGARTALA, February 8: The National Liberation Front of Twipra released 21 volunteers of the Jamatya Hoda (community council) this morning following intensive combing operations by the police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) jawans over the past week. The Jamatya Hoda (community council) had also taken a tough stand against the rebels. The hostages were freed near the remote Nitya Bazar area under Killa police station. The Hindu Jamatya tribals had been fighting the Church-backed NLFT under the leadership of Hoda Okra (head priest and community leader) Bikram Bahadur Jamatya over the past year...

AGARTALA, February 8: The NLFT was forced to release the Jamatiya hostages last night with more tribal groups joining the revolt against the ultras. The insurgents freed 21 Jamatiya activists who were earlier kidnapped from Chhai Maroa hill village under Killa police station in South district's Udaipur sub-division. Vikram Bahadur Jamatiya and Haricharan Jamatiya, both chiefs of the community's apex social unit in a news conference at the Agartala Press Club yesterday announced that the Jamatiya hill tribesmen were ready for an "all out resistance against the NLFT excess in the state's hill...

AGARTALA, February 6: After lying low for a long time, the outlawed All-Tripura Tiger Force militants have started regrouping for a major strike to reclaim their area of dominance from the Church-backed NLFT militants in Sadar (North) and interior areas of Khowai subdivision. As many as 50 heavily-armed Tiger Force militants are waiting across the border to sneak into their base areas in Sadar (North) and Khowai subdivisions. Official agencies keeping tabs on the movement of militants have received information that more than 50 Tiger Force rebels are set to enter Tripura after receiving...

AGARTALA, January 28: Matching the Protestant Church's overzealous conversion drive, the hoda okra (head priest and community leader) of the devout Hindu Jamatya tribal community, Bikram Bahadur, has unveiled a new set of programmes as part of his ongoing crusade against forced conversion of Hindu tribals by NLFT militants. Calling upon the Jamatya and other Hindu tribesmen not to bow down to the "fascist designs" of the NLFT militants and their patrons, Bikram Bahadur Jamatya and his deputy Haricharan Jamatya have urged all Hindu tribals to attend the dharma samsad slated to be held here in...

AGARTALA, January 28: Allegations have been levelled against the Baptist Church in the state that it is forcibly trying to convert Hindu tribal students in schools run by it. The Baptist Church authorities in Khumlung have allegedly made it incumbent upon Hindu tribal students in a school near the headquarters of the autonomous district council to attend regular prayer sessions in a nearby church. With this allegation, the growing religious conflict between the National Liberation Front of Twipra and the Hindu resistance groups over the issue of forced conversion drive by militants has taken a...