Two militants killed, four arrested in Meghalaya

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Two militants were killed and four arrested in Meghalaya Wednesday, police said.

"Two A'chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC-B) cadres were gunned down by Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels at Sankinigre area Wednesday morning allegedly for extorting money in the name of the GNLA," police chief of the West Garo Hills district Mukesh Kumar Singh told IANS.

He said the dead men were identified as Belbong and Raga, both members of the ANVC-B, a splinter group of the ANVC, which has been observing a tripartite ceasefire with the central and Meghalaya governments for nine years.

The GNLA, one of the five Garo rebel groups, is fighting for a separate Garoland in the western part of the state.

In another incident, police Wednesday arrested four people belonging to the newly formed militant outfit - A'chik Songna An'pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK), which means "vanguards of Garoland".

"We arrested four ASAK militants, including the militant outfit's joint secretary Lucky R. Natal from a bus while they were proceeding towards Chokpot area in South Garo Hills, bordering Bangladesh to meet their leaders," Singh said.

He said the other arrested ASAK members have been identified as Netun N. Sangma, Damin Ch. Sangma and Elkin K. Sangma.

A 9mm pistol, one 7.65mm pistol along with six rounds of live ammunition, a high frequency wireless handset, extortion notes of ASAK and GNLA besides other incriminating documents were recovered from the arrested militants.