16 local officials abducted in Tripura

AGARTALA, SEPT 6: Militants of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) struck twice today, abducting 16 block development ...

AGARTALA, SEPT 6: Militants of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) struck twice today, abducting 16 block development officials (BDOs) and killing a passenger of a bus in an ambush in two districts of Tripura.

About 25 militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, stormed the block development office at Manu in the disturbed Dhalai district and fired several rounds before kidnapping the terrorised officials including 13 panchayat secretaries, an officials report said.

Hoowever, the BDO was not present in the office during the daring daylight attack.

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Army and para-military forces launched a combing operation in the area and senior officials reached the spot.

Earlier in the day, the NLFT militants ambushed a bus at Taichakma on Teliamura-Amarpur road in south Tripura district, killing one person on the spot and injuring two others.

The police here said the NLFT insurgents, clad in olive green fatigue, showered bullets from automatic weapons from two sides of the road when the bus approached the spot.

The two injured were shifted to G B Hospital here in a critical condition.