Militants kidnap three ahead of Mizoram assembly elections

Aizawl/Agartala: Ahead of the Mizoram assembly elections, at least three people were kidnapped by the outlawed tribal guerillas from a village in Mamit district of western Mizoram, police said Monday. Elections to the 40-seat Mizoram assembly are going Monday. “Suspected NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) militants abducted the three people at gun point from Damparengpui village along Tripura-Mizoram and Bangladesh border in Mamit district Saturday night,” a police official told reporters in Aizawl. [caption id=“attachment_1247919” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image of militant. Getty[/caption] The police officer said that the armed NLFT rebels abducted Deep Mondal, an official of a Delhi-based telecom company, Sanglianthanga, a resident of Mamit district who was driving Mondal’s vehicle and a driver of another vehicle. The security forces immediately after the incident reached the spot (225 km west of Aizawl) and launched a combing operation to rescue the captives. No ransom was demanded so far by the rebels, who might have taken away the hostages in neighbouring Bangladesh. Mizoram shares unfenced borders with Myanmar (404 km) and Bangladesh (318 km). According to the Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who also holds the home portfolio, the NLFT has about 18 camps in various parts of Bangladesh, specially southeastern region of the country. The NLFT, which has been demanding secession of Tripura from India, has been getting support of other extremist outfits of the northeastern region. Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, some of it unfenced and running through dense forests, making it porous and vulnerable. IANS