The Hindu : `KLO' rebels kill two in Jalpaiguri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

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`KLO' rebels kill two in Jalpaiguri

By Marcus Dam

KOLKATA, MARCH 14. After lying low for more than a month, militants suspected to belong to the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) struck again on Saturday night killing two persons and injuring four others near Maynaguri in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. The last incident involving KLO activists was in January when four persons were gunned down in the neighbouring district of Cooch Behar.

Speaking to The Hindu from Jalpaiguri today, the Superintendent of Police, S.N. Gupta, said that seven persons have been detained in connection with the incident in which six persons on two motorcycles indiscriminately opened fire on a group of people gathered outside two shops.

Mr. Gupta added that at least 27 hardcore KLO militants continued to be at large and most of them, including the chief of the outfit, Jiban Singha, and some of his close associates, were suspected to be hiding in Bangladesh. Nearly 60 activists whose names were with the police have been killed in the anti-insurgency operations by the Royal Bhutan Army in parts of southern Bhutan in December in which several KLO camps set up there had been demolished.

According to official sources, last night's killings indicated that even though the top brass of the fractured KLO leadership was "in Bangladesh," there were still armed militants scattered in different parts of north Bengal after having fled from the Bhutan camps. Investigations into the killings have revealed that the assailants used sophisticated arms.

Only a few weeks ago two companies of paramilitary forces had been transferred from the trouble-prone areas of north Bengal to the south-western naxalite-affected districts of the State after it was believed that the KLO had largely been accounted for. But Saturday's incident has raised fresh fears that militants might foment trouble during the run-up to the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the Kamtapur Peoples' Party, which is demanding a separate Kamtapur State proposed to be carved out of north Bengal and which is suspected of having a nexus with the KLO, has decided to set up candidates in at least three of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the region.

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