By IANS
Guwahati : Six tribal Adivasi separatists were arrested by police in Assam’s main city of Guwahati, averting a major strike by the rebels trying to avenge the attack on its community members in a mob violence last month, officials said.
A police spokesman said the arrests were made Monday after a special commando team intercepted a car in city in which two top leaders of the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) were travelling.
“The two militants led us to a transit camp of the ALNA on the outskirts of the city from where we managed to capture four other members of the group,” Debojit Deuri, additional police chief of Guwahati, said Tuesday.
The arrested militants include Raj Munda, the deputy commander-in-chief of the ALNA, a rag-tag militant group fighting for a separate homeland for the Adivasis, one of the 120-odd tea tribe communities in Assam.
The ALNA is active in parts of eastern Assam’s Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts with the group often involved in kidnapping of tea garden executives for ransom.
“We had information that the ALNA was planning to carry out certain subversive activities in the city and hence we were on a maximum alert,” the police official said.
The police team recovered cash and some documents from the six militants.
“We may soon be able to lay our hands on some arms and ammunition that these militants have in the city,” the official said.
The Adivasi militant group had earlier threatened to carry out violent strikes in retaliation against the mob violence on Nov 24 in Guwahati in which one person was killed and more than 200 injured.
The incident took place when thousands of Adivasis took out a protest march in Guwahati, demanding inclusion of the community as scheduled tribe. Clashes broke out after a group of protestors went on a rampage damaging vehicles and shops.
Locals retaliated and in the ensuing clashes, the Adivasis were outnumbered. One Adivasi man died and more than 200 injured in the mayhem, including a protesting woman stripped naked by a group of locals. This triggered a violent backlash in several parts of Assam dominated by tea gardens.
“A major strike was surely averted with the arrest of these six ALNA rebels. During interrogations, the militants divulged plans of such strikes in the city,” another senior police official said.
Police also arrested four militants belonging to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in separate raids Monday from Guwahati.