http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040103/asp/northeast/story_2744984.asp

Bangla on rebel flushout drive

SEKHAR DATTA

Agartala, Jan. 2: The Bangladesh government has launched a low-key offensive against the Northeast insurgents sheltered there.

Yesterday, Bangladesh Rifles arrested six hardcore militants of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and seized arms and ammunition from Remapara under Chunarughat police station of Habiganj district on Thursday. It had also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 32 anti-tank mines and six rocket launchers from Lemucherri along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Chittagong Hill Tracts the previous day.

Sources from across the border said BDR personnel, led by commander of Srimangal Rifle 2, Lt Col. Imamul Hoda, raided the house of one Amjad Mia in Rema, bordering West Tripura’s Khowai subdivision. They arrested hardcore militants Bakhuk Debbarma (24), Manjak Debbarma (26) and Kethek Tripura (23), who hail from different parts of Tripura’s Dhalai district, besides Philip Debbarma (27), Satish Debbarma (25) and Shailendra Debbarma (24). A 303 rifle, one .9 mm revolver, 20 rounds of ammunition, Rs 16,000, Bangladeshi taka 7,000 and a mobile telephone set were recovered. During interrogation by BDR personnel and later the Bangladesh police, leader of the group and area commander of NLFT in Khowai, Philip Debbarma, said they had entered Remapara under Chunarughat police station on Tuesday from Khowai subdivision of West Tripura.

The sources also said the BDR and Bangladesh army personnel had seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from suspected gunrunners operating on Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar in six raids from the first week of July to November 6. However, nobody was arrested.

Sources here said over the past three months, Tiger Force and NLFT militants have lost five camps, of which two were burnt by them before they deserted the camps.

At Meerpur in Dhaka, Bangladesh police arrested six Ulfa militants from a hideout with arms and ammunition. But before they could be booked, officers of the directorate general of field intelligence came and took them away, sources said.

A source, however, said: “Recently they have started nabbing a few insurgents, possibly with an eye on the Saarc meet, but they generally inform the militants in advance before raiding the hideouts as eyewash”.