Militants kidnap three CPI-M activists in Tripura

AGARTALA - Separatist guerrillas have abducted three more tribal villagers in Tripura, all activists of the ruling Left, and demanded ransom for their release, police said here Thursday.

With this the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) extremists have during the past one month kidnapped 12 people from the Raishabari areas, a tribal dominated region in northern Tripura’s Dhalai district bordering the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

“Heavily armed NLFT guerrillas raided the Raishabari village (120 km north of here), Wednesday night and kidnapped the tribal villagers who are members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) at gun point,” a police spokesman said.

According to police, the NLFT militants have threatened the villagers not to disclose the abduction to police and asked for at least Rs.100,000 as ransom to release the men.

Troopers of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Tripura State Rifles led by senior police officials have launched a search operation to rescue the hostages.

The banned NLFT along with another outlawed outfit, All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), has been fighting for an independent tribal homeland in Tripura, and operates out of neighbouring Bangladesh.

The militancy has been tamed to a large extent in Tripura. According to an official document, over 8,200 tribal guerrillas have surrendered to the authorities since 1993.

The total number of surrendered militants of NLFT and the ATTF outfits rose to around 130 this year.