Ultras ambushed by BSF in Tripura, 3 held

AGARTALA, March 17 ? In a major achievement, Border Security Force (BSF) detained three hardcore militants belonging to People?s Liberation Army of Manipur and one belonging to NSCN (Khaplang) in North Tripura district on Sunday morning. One AK 47 rifle, grenades, three magazines and other incriminating documents were recovered from their possession. The militants were coming from their Bangladesh camps enroute to Manipur, BSF sources said. The PLA militants who were sharing a camp at Sylhet area in Bangladesh with the NSCN (Khaplang) were using Dharmanagar and Panisagar route in North Tripura district as their corridor for the last several years.Earlier they used Kailasahar, their traditional route since the Meitei militants set up the bases at Sylhet in Bangladesh in the late eighties in the same district. (The PLA runs a big base camp at Chhoto Dhamai opposite Karimganj in Sylhet). Following surveillance stepped up in the Indo-Bangla border in Kailasahar and some of the PLA militants were detained while crossing over, they discarded the corridor and began using Dharmanagar and Panisagar as their route. ?We had specific information that the PLA militants were using the Dharmanagar border for some time and that a new detachment would be coming today. Accordingly the BSF forces of 193 battalion laid an ambush at Sartlang border last night. This morning at around 5.30 am when the militants entered Indian territory from Bangladesh, they were rounded up at once. It was such a swift operation that the militants despite being armed could not resist,? said a BSF officer here. It is not, however, learnt whether there were other militants in the gang. Senior BSF officers from Agartala have rushed to Panisagar Battalion headquarters and intensive interrogation of the detained militants is on. Mentionably, in March 1997, Assam Rifles personnel had ambushed a detachment of about 60 NSCN (I-M) at the Khedacherra area in the same district in which six militants were killed and several others were injured. The ?Long March? of the NSCN (I-M) from their base camp at Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh to Manipur was codenamed ?operation dawn?.