Combat Battalion for Resolute Action) commando was killed and another is crtically wounded Tuesday in a fierce gunbattle with Garo rebels, even as security forces have busted a joint training camp of the Garo National Liberation Army and the United Liberation Front of Asom in insurgency-ravaged western part of Meghalaya, police said.

Meghalaya’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team backed by CoBRA commandos raided the GNLA hideout at Nabokgre in East Garo Hills district

“A CoBRA commando was killed while a sub-inspector was crtically wounded in the gunbattle,” N Ramachandran, the police chief of Meghalaya, said.

The battle broke out when the GNLA rebels suddenly fired at the commandos who were to arrest the rebels hiding in one house, Ramachandran said. The wounded commando will be flown to an army base hospital at Guwahati in Assam.

Ramachandran said a hunt is on to trace rebels who fled after the shootout. On Monday, security forces have busted a joint training camp of the Garo National Liberation Army and the United Liberation Front of Asom at Memanang in East Garo Hills district. There were no reports yet if someone was arrested in the crackdown.

The camp, located at Memanang in the foothills of Durama, was busted Monday evening by a joint team of SWAT and CoBRA commandos, a police official said.

Memanang is about 23 km from Williamnagar, the district headquarters of East Garo Hills.
“We have busted the training camp of ULFA and GNLA (Monday) evening after a fierce gunbattle with the rebels in the foothills of Durama,” Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Rajiv Mehta told IANS.

On Monday afternoon, security forces launched a crackdown at Memanang based on specific intelligence inputs about the presence of the training camp.

In fact, the rebels attacked the security with rocket propelled grenades to stall their movement towards their camp where more than 100 GNLA rebels are camping.

Meghalaya, especially the Garo Hill, the most backward region, is used as a safe haven by various northeast-based rebel groups.

GNLA, one of five Garo rebel groups fighting for a separate ‘Garoland’ in the western area of Meghalaya, is headed by police officer-turned-rogue Champion R. Sangma.

However, Indian intelligence officials believe Champion has been “arrested” by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) commandos November 23, 2012, from Haluaghat in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. Over 30 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the area in the last one year by GNLA rebels.