GUWAHATI, April 22 � The crackdown launched by police and security forces against the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) following the massacre of more than 70 persons by militants belonging to the outfit on December 23 last year, led to the arrest of more than 200 cadres and overground workers of the outfit, but the senior members are still at large and the government has made it clear that the operations would continue till the outfit is completely finished.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that in the face of the intensified operations, some important cadres of the outfit escaped from the State. Three of them were recently held in Mumbai and according to information available with the security agencies, a few cadres might have escaped to Kerala and Bengaluru. Efforts are being made by the security agencies to coordinate with the police forces of Kerala and Karnataka so that no member of the outfit can stay comfortably in those states, sources added.
Sources admitted that failure to nab the senior leaders of the outfit was a matter of serious concern as there was the possibility that they might try to revive the outfit. As per information available with the security agencies, the chairman of the NDFB(S) IK Songbijit is still in Myanmar, while the commander-in-chief of the outfit G Bidai, who reportedly masterminded the December 23 attacks, is believed to be hiding somewhere in the jungles along the Assam-Bhutan border areas. On the failure of the forces to nab Bidai, sources said, �So far he has been lucky. But it is a fact that he and his close aides are not in a position to come out of their hiding places and the forces would keep mounting pressure against the members of the outfit.�
Meanwhile, sources revealed that so far more than 125 cadres of the outfit and 127 linkmen have been arrested, while eight hardcore cadres and one linkman were killed since the operations were launched against the outfit in December-end. Forces also managed to recover more than 90 weapons, 80 grenades, over 2,000 rounds of ammunition, three improvised explosive devices and more than 40 kilograms of RDX. However, it is believed that the militants managed to hide some sophisticated weapons and efforts are on to recover them.
