TINSUKIA, Nov 20 - An intensive combing operation by the security forces is going on in the eastern block of the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest under the Digboi Forest Division extending up to Ledo following yesterday�s deadly ambush by suspected ULFA(I) and NSCN(K) militants near the Phansi bridge on the Digboi-Pengeree Road, in which three Army jawans were killed and four others were injured.
Though the security forces used helicopter for locating the miscreants yesterday, the search yielded no result with the dense forest blocking the aerial view. This put pressure on the combing operation for which a big area including the forest has been surrounded by the security personnel, closing all the escape routes.
In the mean time, a closed-door meeting of higher officers of the security forces, which was attended by the State Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay, Additional DGP Mukesh Agarwal, DIG Upper Assam BP Rabha and Tinsukia SP M Mahanta, besides the CRPF and Army officers operating in the district, chalked up strategies to combat the ultras.
Meanwhile, the rest of the villagers of Muluk Gaon, Dhekiajan and Khalgaon, too, have left their homes and joined their brethren in the camp set up by the district administration to protect them from being caught in the crossfire.
