Gunmen torch 14 NC Hills houses

Villager shot in indiscriminate firing near Haflong

Nagaon, May 8: Unidentified gunmen raided a hamlet in North Cachar Hills district and torched 14 of the 16 houses there early today. The attackers thereafter opened indiscriminate fire, injuring one person. Villagers later informed police that a group of gunmen came to Jorai Basti, about 6km from the district headquarters of Haflong, around 4.30am and started setting the houses on fire. When the panic-stricken residents rushed out of their homes, the attackers opened indiscriminate fire, injuring a 55-year-old farmer, Nindau Langthasa, who was later rescued by a team of police. Langthasa suffered bullet injuries on his arms and right leg and was admitted to Haflong civil hospital. His condition is stated to becritical. “When I saw the houses on fire, I ran to the site to know the reason. But I was greeted by gunfire from several sides. As I was retreating, I was hit,” Langthasa said on regaining consciousness. “We have carried out a chest x-ray. A bullet is still lodged in his body. He is under observation,” the superintendent of Haflong civil hospital, Krishna Kemprai, said. This is the third such attack on villagers in NC Hills district in the past five weeks. A high-level team of police and security forces arrived at the Dimasa-dominated Jorai Basti following the incident. “Arrangements have been made to set up a relief camp for the panic-stricken villagers,” a source in the Haflong police, said. The police, however, are yet to ascertain the group behind the attack on the village. Unidentified persons, armed with sophisticated eapons, had recently attacked another village in Maibong subdivision. Three persons were killed in the incident. On March 20, militants attacked a group of villagers of Tungjai Basti under Mahur police station. Two villagers were killed on the spot and a 25-year-old youth was seriously injured in the attack. On April 28, militants attacked another Dimasa-dominated village, Yia Basti, 25km from Maibong sub-divisional headquarters. Three women were killed and a 30-year-old youth was injured in the attack. Militants had also torched 13 houses of the hamlet the same day. Suspected Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) militants ambushed a convoy of the NC Hills deputy commissioner, S. Jagannathan, when he visited Yia Basti the next day. DHD (J) militants had yesterday removed the fish plates from the railway tracks to derail a Badarpur-bound goods train between Diaojabra and Langting railway stations. Supplies hit The rising tide of militant depredations in North Cachar Hills has emerged as a major threat to the supply of essential commodities by train to Tripura, reports our special correspondent from Agartala. The Barak Valley districts of Assam and Mizoram have also been adversely affected by the disruption in supplies. The railway cargo service had been suspended since April 10 on the Lumding-Badarpur-Agartala route following militant attacks on cargo trains. After a 25-day break, train service resumed and the first goods train reached Dharmanagar station in North Tripura on Wednesday . Another goods train carrying rice reached Dharmangar yesterday, but an attack by militants on a train in NC Hills yesterday has cast a shadow on the future of supplies. The explosion on the Lumding-Badarpur-Agartala track targeted a train carrying essential commodities to Silchar. Tripura minister for food and civil supplies, Manik Dey, said the state has a stock of fuel rice and wheat for only a few days.