Two CRPF commandos were severely injured when they were attacked by Garo tribal militants in Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district in neighbouring Assam early today, police said.
Acting on a tip-off on the presence of a makeshift camp of the Garo National Liberation Army militants, a joint operation by the state police Swift Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos and CRPF commandos was launched at a hillock of Bolsal Ading near Rongkaminchi, about 10 km away from Resubelpara, the district headquarter, SP JFK Marak told PTI.
Two CRPF jawans were shot at, one in the chest and the other in the leg, critically wounding them, he said.
Both the injured jawans were rushed to Assam's Goalpara Hospital where their conditions have improved and are currently out of danger, the SP added.
At least 15 militants were holed up at the makeshift camp in the hillock when the operation was on. But owing to extreme difficult hilly terrain and thick vegetation, the militants had an upper hand and escaped, Marak said.
A search operation is on to nab the GNLA area commander Philliport D Shira and others who escaped from the camp while security forces have seized a good number of arms and ammunition, the SP stated.
Three pistols along with 10 live ammunition, a Claymore mine, 19 detonators, two hand grenades, seven walkie talkie, two AK magazines with 130 rounds of ammunition, 51 SIM cards, voters ID, incriminating documents etc were seized from the site of the militants' hideout, he added.
