Militants kidnap village head, two others in Tripura

Agartala, April 2 (IANS) After a lull of a few months, a separatist outfit kidnapped three people, including a woman village head, in Tripura, police said here Tuesday.

“Suspected NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) militants abducted Banya Tripura, 32, and an elderly villager from Malda Roaja Para in northern Tripura late Monday night,” Inspector General of Police (Police Control) Nepal Das told IANS.

He said: “Heavily armed NLFT guerrillas raided the house of Banya Tripura, a senior tribal woman leader, and kidnapped her and the aged villager at gun point.”

Banya Tripura is the elected chairperson of the Malda Roaja Para, 180 km north of this northeastern state’s capital Agartala.

In a separate incident, a driver was kidnapped by extremists in north Tripura.

Security forces led by senior police officials have rushed to the spots and launched massive combing operations to rescue the hostages and to nab the militants.

Tripura’s two banned militant outfits – NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force – have set up bases in Bangladesh and get support from other separatist outfits of the northeastern region.

They have been demanding secession of Tripura from India.

Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, some of it unfenced and running through dense forests, making it porous and vulnerable.

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