By IANS,
Shillong : Two top commanders of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) in Meghalaya are on the run after security forces raided their headquarters, and efforts are on to nab them, a top police officer said Monday.
A combined team of Meghalaya Police and its Special Operation Team Sunday launched a massive combing operation code-named ‘Operation Durama’ and raided the GNLA’s general headquarters and training camp inside Durama hill range.
But no militant was arrested in the raid at the Durama hill range in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hill district, about 350 km west of Shillong.
“They (militant leaders) are on the run and we are putting extra efforts to nab these fugitives,” Sylvester Nongtynger, the police chief of East Garo Hills district, told IANS.
Champion R. Sangma, a rogue Meghalaya police officer-turned chairman of GNLA, and the outfit’s military wing Chief Sohan D. Shira escaped from the camop along with 50 cadres.
“There was an exchange of fire between security forces and heavily armed militants but they escaped due to the thick vegetation,” Nongtynger said.
A Chinese-made hand-grenade, a huge quantity of food rations, livestock and uniforms of GNLA cadres were recovered from the camp.
The GNLA, fighting for a ‘sovereign Garoland’ in the western area of Meghalaya, has forged close operational links with other northeast-based insurgent groups like the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
The GNLA’s foot soldiers are deserters, mostly from the NDFB, the Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) and the Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF).
According to police, the GNLA is reported to have made extortion demands ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore from legislators, government officials and businessmen.
Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hills region, is being used as a safe haven by various northeast-based militant groups, including the NSCN-IM, the ULFA and a faction of the NDFB, police say.