Garo rebel killed, camp busted

Shillong - Security forces Thursday busted a hideout of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) in Meghalaya, killing a rebel and wounding another, an official said.

Meghalaya's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos backed by CoBRA (Combat Battalion for Resolute Action) commandos raided the GNLA hideout at Megra village in East Garo Hills district, the official said.

"A GNLA rebel was killed while another was wounded in the gunbattle," JFK Marak, the district police chief of East Garo Hills, told IANS.

The battle broke out in the rebel’s hideout Thursday morning when the rebels suddenly fired at the commandos, said Marak.

"Though the identity of the slain rebel was yet to be ascertained, the wounded militant was identified as Jamsang," Marak said.

Marak said a hunt is on to trace the injured rebel who fled after the shootout.

On Wednesday night, the GNLA rebels torched the house of one of its surrendered members Andreash Ch Momin at Bokkingre area in East Garo Hills, after he refused to compensate the cost of the arms and ammunition which he had deposited on surrender in August last year.

Momin had deposited an AK rifle, three magazines with 125 rounds of live ammunition and one China-made grenade.

The GNLA, headed by police officer-turned outlaw Champion R. Sangma, is fighting for a separate Garoland. It has unleashed a reign of terror in the three impoverished districts of Garo Hills region.