Militants kidnap four workers in Tripura

AGARTALA - Separatist tribal guerrillas in Tripura have abducted four labourers working on a school building construction site, police said Saturday.

“Outlawed NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the Chandipur village, 145 km north of here, late Friday and kidnapped four workers at gun point while others managed to escape,” a police spokesman said.

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

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, which shares an 856-km border with Tripura.

The militancy has been tamed to a large extent. 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 140 this year.