DIPHU,�Jan 7�� Simmering tension continues to affect normal life in most parts of Karbi Anglong, although no fresh violence was reported in the last 24 hours. Red alert is still in force in the district.
Meanwhile, following the violence in the hill district over the past couple of weeks, over 3,100 affected people have so far been shifted to nine relief camps set up mostly under Barpathar and Chokihola police stations.
Meanwhile, a faction of the Karbi Students� Association which had called a 15-hour bandh from�2 pm�today to�5 am tomorrow, has�withdrawn the call.�However, a number of shops and business establishments remained closed.
The police have so far arrested 23 suspects belonging to the Karbi Peoples� Liberation Tigers (KPLT) and the Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force (NRHPF) for their alleged role in the recent acts of terror.
Tension gripped the district after armed militants had opened fire on a Rengma-inhabited village on December 27 last year at Khuwanigaon under Barpathar Police Station, in which four persons including a village headman and three women had lost their lives.
Gunfights between the KPLT and NRHPF were also reported following the incident. A couple of days later, the body of a Karbi youth was recovered at a place under Khotkhoti Police Station.
The recent recovery of the bodies of nine Karbi youths on the Assam-Nagaland border has also made peace keeping a tough job. A local Nagaland newspaper today quoted the NRHPF claiming responsibility for the killings, contending that those killed by them were arms suppliers.
Superintendent of Police MJ Mahanta told The Assam Tribune that the involvement of both the KPLT and the NRHPF in the recent acts of violence has been established and operation is on against both the outfits.
Mahanta said that both the groups are being supplied arms by the NSCN.
The SP also stated that both the militant groups have a history of disputes over collection of extortion money from orange farmers, especially in the month of harvest, which has started.
