Army kills two terrorists in poll-bound Assam

The army deployed in Assam's Karbi Anglong district killed two senior cadres of the Karbi People's Liberation Tiger (KPLT) and arrested another from a dense forest, an official said on Saturday.

Guwahati-based Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Suneet Newton said the two terrorists were killed on Friday evening. The army has undertaken extensive day and night operations in the jungles in the last few days following intelligence inputs.

"The troops started an operation in the Kalyani reserve forest on Friday. The troops came in contact with armed insurgent cadres around 5 pm and on being challenged, the terrorists attempted to escape and fired indiscriminately on army troops. This forced the army troops to fire and in the gun battle that ensued, two hard core KPLT cadres were killed and one was arrested," Newton said.

One HK 33 Rifle and an automatic pistol were also seized from their possession.

The two terrorists were identified as Sojong Tisso and Mokrang Bey, while the arrested one was identified as Son Tisso, he said adding that Sojong Tisso was the finance secretary of the KPLT and the security forces were on the lookout for him for the last three months.

The incident took place barely three days ahead of the first phase of assembly elections in Assam. The four assembly segments in the district including Diphu, Bokajan, Howraghat and Baithalangsho are set to hold polls on Monday.