GUWAHATI, June 18 � A group of armed members of the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) has been surrounded by police and security forces in an area north of Serphangguri in Kokrajhar district, and operations are on.
Highly placed police sources told The Assam Tribune that the group of militants surrounded by the police and security forces would not be able to come out of the area and they are desperately calling up their colleagues in other places to indulge in violence elsewhere so that the pressure on them eases. However, sources said that the cordon would not be broken even if the militants manage to indulge in any kind of violence in other places.
Sources said there is no shortage of forces in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts and there is no need for sending additional forces as of now. At least 40 companies of Central paramilitary forces are deployed in the districts for counter-insurgency operations and all forces taken together, the strength of forces in the districts would be around 90 companies.
Commenting on the attempt by a few militants of NDFB (S) to show their strength yesterday, sources said that only a handful of militants called up a few TV cameramen to issue a threat following the killing of a hardcore militant. Sources said that the police have already registered a case against the TV cameramen as �one should not try to propagate violence.�
Sources revealed that some of the members of the NDFB (S) managed to escape towards Bhutan following sustained operations and there is every possibility that a few of them might have returned to the State. For some time, there were intelligence inputs about the militants trying to smuggle in weapons to the BTAD areas from Dimapur and several such attempts were foiled due to timely receipt of intelligence inputs. But the possibility of the militants managing to bring in some weapons cannot be ruled out.
On the possibility of the militants hitting soft targets, sources said that as it is not possible to post permanent pickets in each and every village, attempts are being made to intensify operations to keep the militants on the run.
