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Stress on full-scale operation against NDFB(S)

By R Dutta Choudhury

GUWAHATI, Feb 14 � There is a need for a full-scale and well-coordinated operation in Bhutan to nab the senior leaders of the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), who are believed to be hiding there in the face of the massive counter-insurgency operations launched in Assam. This was the view expressed by the security agencies involved in operations in the State.

Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune that after the operations were launched following the massacre of over 70 persons by the outfit on December 23, the senior leaders, who were in the State at that time and masterminded the operation, managed to escape. There is a belief that if the senior leaders remain at large, there is every possibility of the outfit reviving itself and there is a need for nabbing the leaders to finish off the outfit.

Sources said that according to information available, commander-in-chief of the NDFB(S) G Bidai, who was somewhere in the area bordering Kokrajhar and Chirang districts when he masterminded the attack on Adivasi people, managed to escape to Bhutan by taking advantage of the porous international border. Sources said another senior leader of the outfit, Batha, is also believed to be in Bhutan.

Security sources revealed that according to inputs available, around 25 hardcore cadres of NDFB(S) are now in Bhutan. However, they have not been able to set up camps in the neighbouring country as the security forces of that country are also keeping a close watch on the situation. �As far as we know, the militants are moving around in Bhutan without carrying any weapons and they are taking shelter mostly in the villages inside the forests. That is why it is difficult for the security personnel of Bhutan to identify and nab them,� sources added.

As the Government of Bhutan is fully cooperating with India in dealing with the militants, it will not be possible for the ultras to set up full-fledged camps inside the territory of that country. But there is a need for a well-coordinated full-scale operation between the security forces of both the countries like the Operation All Clear launched in Bhutan in 2003 to flush out the militants from that country, sources added.

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