Four officials of an oil exploration company, who were abducted by suspected tribal militants on Thursday afternoon at Langting in North Cachar Hill district of Assam, remain untraced though the police and the army have launched a search operation for them from Friday morning.

The police suspect that militants of the Dima Halam Daogah group or the Black Widow might be responsible for the abductions.

According to police sources, a group of eight to ten armed militants abducted the officials on Thursday afternoon. The two drivers accompanying the officials were released and they reported the incident to nearby Mandardisa police station on Thursday night.

The Indian Oiltanking Limited is a joint venture between the Indian Oil Corporation [Get Quote] Limited  and Oiltanking GmbH of Germany [Images]. The abducted officials have been identified as Suresh Kumar, B Kumar, Mahendra and Sadrakhm.