Terrorists kidnap two tribal men in Tripura

Militants have kidnapped two tribal men in Tripura, police said here Monday.

Police suspect that militants belonging to the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) might have kidnapped Alendra Tripura, 31, and Gunadhar Tripura, 22.

"Some NLFT guerrillas raided the huts of the two tribal men at Raishabari in (northern) Tripura Sunday night and abducted them," Inspector General of Police (police control) Nepal Das told IANS here.

"The rebels might have taken the hostages to Bangladesh as the place is just a few km away from the India-Bangladesh border. We have asked the Border Security Force to hold a flag meeting with the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) to rescue the captives," he said.

Senior district and police officials along with reinforcement have rushed to Raishabari, around 200 km from Agartala, and launched a combing operation to nab the guerrillas.

Police said this was the fifth terrorist incident in Tripura this year.

The NLFT militants, who set up camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar, have been kidnapping people from Tripura and Mizoram to collect ransom.

Meanwhile, 11 workers, residents of southern Assam, kidnapped by NLFT militants Oct 10 from Mizoram along the inter-state border with Tripura, were released by the terrorists Friday.

"The NLFT guerrillas initially demanded Rs.30 lakh as ransom for the release of the 11 people. The families of the hostages despite their poverty collected Rs.5 lakh and gave it to the militants as a pre-condition to the release of the captives," a Tripura police official said.