Six tribals kidnapped by NLFT in West Tripura

Agartala, Sep 5 (UNI) Suspected National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants kidnapped six tribal villagers from Kuikhampui and Gurucharanpara villages adjacent to Baramura hill range in Tripura's West District last night.

According to police a group of 15-20 armed ultras entered the villages under Taliamura police station area at about 2130 hours and kidnapped 16 villagers at gun point. Later 10 of them were released.

This was the biggest ever kidnapping incident in recent times.

''The outlawed NLFT militants had earlier demanded huge subscriptions from the impoverised tribal villagers. When they fail to meet their demands, the rebels attacked them. It is suspected that the kiddnaped villagers were taken to deep inside the jungles of Baramura hill range,'' said a police officer.

The security forces had launched a massive combing operation to rescue the abducted villagers. Senior police officials from here had rushed to the spot to supervise the rescue operation.

''Both the underground outfits, NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) are facing financial crisis. They are now kidnapping the poor villagers for ransom,'' said a top police official.

UNI PD-PB PL VA RS1743