Guerrilla leader and kin killed in Mizoram

Silchar, Jan. 13 : Guerrilla leader Atabur Rahaman and his cousin Aklasuddin were found murdered at separate places in Mizoram’s Kolosib district yesterday.

Both the bodies were bullet-riddled and their hands were tied with long ropes. Rahman’s body was found in a hamlet in Panbangkhal village while Aklasuddin’s body was found in the Bilkwathtlir area.

Police sources in Hailakandi said Mizo passersby saw the bodies yesterday morning and informed the nearby Kolosib, Bilkhathlir and Bhairabhi police stations.

Rahaman, who escaped from jail twice in 2003, was the head of United Democratic Liberation Tigers. The outfit has been responsible for many killings, kidnappings and extortions in Hailakandi district.

It comprised Muslim and Bru youths who joined the gang to eke out a living. Intelligence sources said the gang comprised around 75 criminals.

Atabur, a resident of Jhalnacherra village in Hailakandi, joined the United Democratic Liberation Army in 2003 and was trained in guerrilla warfare. He left the outfit after differences with its chief Dhanyaram Reang and formed the United Democratic Liberation Tigers in 2004.

The official sources claimed that after the deployment of the army’s 33 regiment in Hailaklandi to contain terrorism, members of the outfits had been lying low and most of them were hiding in Dholai block of Cachar district.

Security forces in Cachar claimed that internecine rivalry between the two groups had led to the gruesome killings.