With the elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) round the corner, the extremists have sharply stepped up their desperate and dastardly depredations, and the state security forces their determined drive to combat the menace. In one such successful counter-insurgency operation at Kalajhari hills at Gandachhara in Dhalai district, three hardcore extremists were captured with two firearms on March 30 and a similar number of extremists are believed to have been seriously wounded.
Acting on a tip-off, the police and jawans of the Tripura State Rifles made a pre-dawn swoop on the day at Balusaipara near Kalajhari hills, led by the officer-in-charge of Gandachhara police station. There was specific information that a group of NLFT and Sankrak extremists were camping there. At the break of day, the extremists sighted the security forces and greeted them with a volley of fire. The security forces retaliated. Following a fairly long crossfire, the extremists retreated. Three of them were nabbed by the police along with two .22 revolvers, cartridges, a radio set and some incriminating documents. A number of fresh blood-stains on the spot indicated that at least three other extremists were fatally injured.
However, there was a sharp spurt in kidnapping of innocent non-tribal people by the extremists. On March 29 morning, a group of 10-12 armed extremists raided the Manikpur market in Chawmanu, abducted eight small traders, all non-tribals, and mercilessly beat them in the process. The extremists have been carrying out such dastardly attacks to forcibly falsify the ADC elections that are slated for April 30 and May 3, and are hellbent on hijacking the ADC for the outlawed NLFT's over ground outfit, IPFT.