Three tribal militants surrender in Tripura

Three tribal militants, who had fled from their hideout in Bangladesh, surrendered to the Border Security Force (BSF) in Tripura, police said here Friday.

The Bangladesh-trained extremists have deposited two AK-series rifles and large quantities of ammunition.

Three guerrillas -- area commander of the NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) Pabanjoy Reang (25), deputy area commander Ananga Mohan Tripura (21), and sepoy Nripendra Tripura (20) -- had recently fled from their Satchari camp in Sylhet district of eastern Bangladesh before entering into Indian territory.

"The three NLFT rebels surrendered to senior BSF officials and deposited their arms and ammunition at bordering Sidhai camp Wednesday," police told reporters.

BSF have subsequently handed over the tribal guerrillas to the police.

The surrendered militants told the police that the militants hiding in Bangladesh camps were facing serious financial crisis. Besides, there are leadership quarrels among the terrorist leaders, said an officer.

Senior police officials are interrogating the militants to get details about the separatist outfits sheltering in Bangladesh.

According to the police and the BSF, there are many camps and hideouts of militants from northeast India in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet areas Bangladesh.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar last week said the state's separatist outfits are recruiting youths and have camps in Bangladesh though the security forces of the neighbouring country are cracking down on them.

"Currently, there are about 18 camps belonging to outlawed NLFT militants in various parts of Bangladesh, specially southeastern region of that country," Sarkar had told reporters.

Tripura's two banned militant outfits, the NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force, have set up bases in Bangladesh and get support from other separatist outfits of the northeastern region.

They have been demanding secession of Tripura from India.

Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, some of it unfenced and running through dense forests, making it porous and vulnerable.