Bangladesh's government has launched a massive drive against rebels from the Northeast, based in the interior of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and a rapid action battalion launched the operation on November 22. As a result, National Liberation Front of Tripura militants have fled the jungles of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This came to light when BSF jawans this morning arrested NLFT commander Amarjeet Debbarma.
High-level sources said they had received information from sources from across the border that in the past 12 days, six hideouts of NLFT, HNLC and NDFB rebels had been destroyed. At least seven suspected NLFT rebels and allegedly one each of HNLC and NDFB militants have been arrested.
A senior Special Branch official SAID that the most successful operation had been carried out in the Mandiracherra hideout of Tripura's NLFT on the border areas of Khagracherri and Bandarban districts on November 27 by a joint team of RAB and BGB.
Initially, the rebels opened fire on the Bangladesh security forces. The official said, "The Bangladesh security forces retaliated and left a number of NLFT militants dead on the spot, though the number of slain militants has not been ascertained so far. The rest of the militants fled towards Bandarban district and security forces recovered a large quantity of ammunition."
Sources said after the operations started on November 22, senior NLFT commander Karna Debbarma was arrested the next morning. Forty other NLFT rebels had been living in rented houses in the Dighinala area and all of them fled after the security operation began.
The official said, "According to our report, Karna Debbarma guided the BGB and RAB jawans to five other hideouts of the NLFT at Shilacherri, Mandiracherra, Taglakandai and Naraicherra camps. Senior NLFT commander Rathamoni Debbarma was forced to flee with lieutenants and took shelter in the Kasalong camp. However, this camp, too, was dismantled by Bangladeshi security forces. The fate of Rathamoni and his followers is still not known."
Security forces have also been monitoring communication among NLFT militants on wireless. They stumbled upon the voice of senior NLFT commander Atharbabu Halam, one of the assassins of former Speaker Bimal Sinha on March 31, 1998. In the intercepted message, Atharbabu said he was planning to cross over to Myanmar and set up a new base.