Most wanted tribal rebel gunned down in Meghalaya

Bijay Sankar Bora

Tribune News Service

Guwahati, January 11

Mounted vigil against banned militant outfits operating in the Northeast ahead of the Republic Day paid rich dividend today as one of the most wanted leaders of the Garo rebel group, Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) from Meghalaya, was killed by the police.

The police informed that the self-styled deputy commander in chief of the GNLA which is suspected to have base in Bangladesh and be operating in close coordination with the banned ULFA (Independent), was gunned down by Meghalaya police commandos during an early morning encounter in forest area of East Garo Hills district of the hill state. 

The slain militant leader was identified as Matchallang M Sangma alias Vietnam.

A team of police commandos from East Garo Hills swooped down on a GNLA camp near Baweduragre village at the break of dawn and engaged the rebels in heavy exchange of fire for quite some time before the rebels retreated deep inside the jungle.  

A search of the site after the gun battle led the police team to recover the body of the outfit’s deputy commander in-chief Matchallang, who was identified through the ID card recovered from his body.

Matchallang who was one of the most wanted rebels in the region, was notorious as a dreaded killer and had gunned down Orget Sangma, a village elder from Dambuk on August 2 last year.

Matchallang was also responsible for the murder of GNLA cadre Kamdak and former finance secretary of the outfit Rakkam D Shira at the orders of outfit’s chief commander Sohan D Shira.

The slain militant leader was also responsible for the abduction of two village heads — one from Rongdim A’we in South Garo Hills and another from Reangdim in West Khasi Hills last year.

Police also recovered one AK-56 assault rifle along with a magazine, live ammunitions, huge number of empty cartridges, 3 kg of gelatin sticks, Chinese grenades, GNLA demand pads and receipt books, seals, printers, Bangladeshi currency notes, Claymore box for IEDs and personal diaries among others.

A search of nearby villages was also on for any GNLA cadres who might have been injured and taken refuge among villagers.

Meanwhile, security forces have intensified operation against rebels belonging to the NSCN-K and ULFA (I) in southern Arunachal Pradesh areas bordering Myanmar following inputs that rebels might try to sneak into eastern Assam areas to strike terror before Republic Day.