Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
Haflong, October 06:
Eleven peopleincluding a railway employee and seven Railway Protection Force personnelwere killed and three injured in an ambush by the Black Widow faction of the Dima Halam Daogah group in Assam's North Cachar Hills district today.
Additional Superintendent of Police Nitai Chandra Ghosh told PTI the ultras fired at four vehicles in which 14 RPF personnel were travelling at Misipisa, 10 km from Mandarbisa railway station.
Among the dead were a NF Railway supervisor, three drivers of the vehicles and seven RPF personnel.
Three personsa railway employee, a contract labourer and a khalasiwere injured.
The RPF personnel were going from Lumding to Mandarbisa, 120 km from Haflong, to inspect a broad-gauge line conversion project there, Ghosh said.
The Black Widow faction of the DHD is against the holding of peace talks with the Government unlike the Nunisa faction of the group, which is currently observing a truce.
A North East Frontier Railway spokesman told PTI in Guwahati that the team of NF Railway officials and RPF personnel were travelling in four vehicles when it was ambushed at Misitdisa between Mandradisa and Hatikhali stations, 11 km from Lumding.
The first two vehicles escaped while those killed were in the last two vehicles, which were badly damaged in the attack.
A live grenade was found later at the site of the ambush.
The militants escaped with the weapons of the RPF personnel who died, officials said.
The dead were identified as Nitish Kumar (Section Engineer), KP Singh and G Shankar (both head constables of Railway Protection Force), Malkit Singh, Mohammed Shahid Ali, Manohar Prasad, BC Sharma and Karan Singh (all RPF constables), Hriday Debnath and JJ Ghosh (drivers) and Ram Das (contractor's staff).
The injured are Subodh Kumar (Section Engineer), S Rao (khalasi) and Swapan Chakraborty.
The condition of the injured was critical and they were initially taken to Lumding but later shifted to Guwahati.