Ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls on Monday, KPLT insurgents on Saturday ambushed a CRPF convoy killing four jawans and injuring as many in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
A group of Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger insurgents opened fire at the convoy of three CRPF vehicles carrying 18 men at Arlangso in Deothar, police said. The jawans died on the spot. While three of the injured were admitted to Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) Hospital in neighbouring Golaghat district, one critically injured was sent to Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
The paramilitary force personnel also retaliated but the rebels escaped into the thick jungles, sources said. Eleven rounds of empty cartridges of light machine guns (LMG) and self-loading rifles (SLR) were recovered from the spot. The CRPF men were on an operation in the area since Friday night to ensure safety of the polling stations ahead of the first phase of voting on Monday. Three of the victims were identified as Mika Singh, Dilip Kumar and Debendra Shaw. The KPLT militant outfit was formed in January by an anti-peace talk group of 25 members of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front. — PTI