DIBRUGARH, Feb 28 - The police in Upper Assam have been put on high alert following extensive coordinated crackdown against the armed rebels in eastern Arunachal Pradesh and Assam border by the Assam Rifles. Police are on vigil to ensure that the militants do not sneak in to Assam for refuge.
The Assam-Nagaland and Assam-Arunachal Pradesh borders in Charaideo district are particularly vulnerable as they provide easy route to the rebels of the Northeast. Jitmol Doley, Superintendent of Police, Charaideo told The Assam Tribune that security has been tightened up to some 50 km inside Assam from the borders of both Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh to thwart entry of militants. �We are maintaining strict vigil in the entire area,� said the police officer.
The security forces from the Assam Rifles eliminated one self-styled corporal of the NSCN(K), Wahang Sumyen during a fierce gunfight with a group of rebels near Lyangche village in Tirap district last night and recovered one pistol with ammunition and an IED from the spot.
Tirap is the nearest district of Arunachal Pradesh to Charaideo district in Assam. The rebels were reportedly seeking to ambush the security forces. The rebels were asked to surrender but they instead opened fire, prompting the security forces to retaliate in which the NSCN(K) militant was killed on the spot, while others managed to flee into the jungles under the cover of darkness, a press release stated.
The Assam Rifles had yesterday gathered reports of movement of NSCN(K) militants in the jungles near Lyangche village, carrying out extortion in Muktwa and Lyangche areas. The troops have launched a combing operation in the area to nab the other fleeing rebels.
The security forces have also apprehended two ultras � one each from NSCN(IM) and NSCN(K). Machow Ngaimong of NSCN(K) was apprehended on Sunday with a pistol and ammunition from Mulong village, while self-styled lance corporal Akha Wangsu of NSCN(IM) was apprehended in Longding town the next day. Both the militants were terrorising the people in the area and extorting from them, the release stated.
