6 ULFA militants nabbed in Meghalaya

Six ULFA militants, including a top leader of the banned outfit, were nabbed by the Army in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya today.

Army spokesperson Lt Col Rajesh Kalia said the militants were travelling by a bus when they were nabbed at Depa near Dainadubi in a joint Army and Meghalaya police operation. Kalia said all the six arrested militants were being interrogated. One of the arrested was a self-styled sergeant Aftab Ali alias Manor Hussain, a senior leader of the “709 battalion” of the outfit, and was recently appointed as the commander of the “109 battalion” of the group which operates in Meghalaya and Lower Assam.

Along with him were Md Asad-ul-Haq, Ranjit Ali, Ching Chang, Shadul Jamal and Manu Rabha.

After interrogation, the Army conducted a search operation in Chimabangshi reserve forest and recovered two country-made pistols, nine live cartridges, two Chinese grenades, two crude bombs weighing 8.5 kg each, five mobiles, Rs 2.31 lakh and a camera were seized from their possession.