ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Tripura militants kill 17, injure 11 and kidnap 4

Sujit Chakraborty in Agartala

Outlawed tribal guerrillas shot dead 17 people, including two women, injured 11 and abducted four others at Panchabati in West Tripura last night.

The police today said the All Tripura Tiger Force guerrillas equipped with sophisticated weapons stormed the weekly Panchabati local market, 60 kilometres from Agartala. The local people thought they were Assam Rifles jawans as they wore similar olive-green outfits.

Suddenly the terrorists rained bullets on the people, killing seven on the spot. Several others suffered injuries, of whom 10 succumbed in two government hospitals. Eleven people, most of them critical, were being treated at the G B Hospital.

The extremists took away four people at gunpoint.

An explosive situation is prevailing in the state as the government has sounded a red alert in West Tripura.

Director General of Police K T D Singh told UNI that combing operations to nab the militants had been launched by the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Assam Rifles, Tripura State Rifles and state police.

Senior police officials including Deputy Inspector General of Police (western range) C Balasubrammaniam was closely supervising the counter-insurgency operation.

The BSF had been asked to tighten vigil along the Indo-Bangla border to prevent the militants from crossing the border.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who was scheduled to leave Agartala for New Delhi today to attend a meeting called by Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has cancelled his trip.

The chief minister has asked the police and civil officials to make all efforts to nab the militants. He also called a high-level meeting this morning to take stock of the situation and to chart out the future course of action.

A dawn-to-dusk bandh is being observed today in certain parts of West Tripura to protest against the massacre. The bandh has been called by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist, which is demanding additional central para-military forces to intensify the counter-insurgency operation in the state. The party has also decided to organise a protest demonstration in the entire state tomorrow.

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have demanded the resignation of the CPI-M-led Left Front government for their ''failure to curb militancy''.

Tripura Congress unit president Gopal Roy, in a statement, demanded the resignation of the state government and imposition of President's rule and extension of the Disturbed Areas Act in the entire state.

The Congress has called an emergency meeting today to review the situation and also to chalk out its agitation programme.

In separate statements, Trinamul Congress state unit president Sudhir Ranjan Majumder, its convenor Ratan Chakraborty, Tripura Congress unit vice-president Jawahar Saha and opposition leader Samir Ranjan Barman also demanded imposition of President's rule in the state.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report