Suspected militants of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) gunned down eight persons, including four women, belonging to the Reang tribe during the early hours of Tuesday at Pushparampara village in northern Tripura’s Kanchanpur sub-division.
The incident took place just 500 metres from the India-Bangladesh border. Another woman was injured, while two villagers were reported to be missing. Tripura Director General of Police Pranay Sahaya and senior police officials rushed to the spot, about 150 km north of Agartala.
Deputy Inspector General of Police and spokesman of Tripura police Nepal Das told The Hindu over phone from Agartala that the victims were relatives of the 10 NLFT militants who had surrendered on Monday. The police said the militants abducted the victims late on Monday night and that their bullet-riddled bodies were recovered on Tuesday.
Over the last two days, 16 NLFT militants who fled their camps in Bangladesh, surrendered before senior officials of the Tripura police. The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) called for a general strike in Kanchanpur sub-division and a State-wide protest on Wednesday.
