By IANS,
Shillong : India’s elite Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commandos will soon be deployed in western Meghalaya to counter the growing threat from Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels, police said Sunday.
“Five companies of BSF (Border Security Force) and two units of CoBRA commandos would be deployed in Garo Hills to help us in our ongoing combing operations against GNLA,” S.K. Jain, the intelligence chief of Meghalaya Police, told IANS.
The CoBRA commandos – the special force raised to tackle Maoist insurgency in India – will counter the growing GNLA activities in East and South Garo Hills districts, considered to be GNLA’s heartland.
The three districts of Garo Hills region in west Meghalaya have witnessed a spurt in GNLA’s anti-national activities.
Presently, 500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers are assisting the Meghalaya Police and its Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos to tackle the GNLA.
More than 10 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the Garo Hills during the last one year by GNLA rebels.
The GNLA had earlier also slapped extortion demands ranging from Rs.5 lakh to Rs.1 crore on government officials, ministers, legislators and businessmen in the Garo Hills region.
The GNLA, one of the five Garo rebel groups, is fighting for a sovereign ‘Garoland’. It is headed by police officer-turned-outlaw Champion R. Sangma.
Assam-based outlawed groups the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which also have their bases in Bangladesh, have extended its armoury support to the GNLA.