'DNLA' kills 5 drivers, sets afire trucks; Extortion might be behind attack: DGP

OUR BUREAU

GUWAHATI/HAFLONG: Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta on Friday said extortion might be the reason behind suspected militants attacking trucks in Dima Hasao district on Thursday night, leading to the killing of five persons.

Mahanta rushed to the spot after the attack, took stock of the law-and-order situation in the hill district. He told The Sentinel on Friday evening that the police were investigating the causes and circumstances that led to the attack.

"We have reasons to believe that extortion was the reason behind the militants spraying bullets on the trucks," Mahanta said. Even though the DGP refused to divulge more before the investigation into the incident, sources said that the police had cautioned plying of trucks at night in the Dima Hasao district.

Five drivers died, and one sustained injuries when suspected militants fired indiscriminately at seven trucks and later set them afire on Thursday night in Dima Hasao district.

Police said that a group of armed men stopped the trucks – six carrying cement and one loaded with coal – and started firing indiscriminately at Rangerbeel on Umrangsu Lanka Road in the district after 8 pm on Thursday. The group fired at the vehicles for several minutes and then set them afire. All of the victims of the attack were drivers and handymen of the trucks. Rescuers recovered the five charred bodies from the burnt trucks.

Police sources suspect the involvement of the Dimasa National Liberation Army (DNLA) in the attack. A cement factory's refusal to yield to the DNLA's extortion demands is suspected to have led to it.

Additional forces have rushed to the spot after the incident, and a combing operation is underway.

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