12 Black Widow cadres killed, army denies 

Guwahati, May 10: At least 12 Black Widow (anti-talk) faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) militants were suspected to have been killed and four others were seriously injured by the troops of the 4 Corps of the Army on Saturday morning at Haralu in the troubled North Cachar Hills district of Central Assam. 

The village Haralu is located in Assam-Nagaland-Manipur border and it is about 90 kms away from Haflong, the district headquarters of NC Hills. 

The incident took place at around 11 am when the troops were conducting a routine checking at the village. The Black widow militants fired on the troops forcing the later to retaliate and in the ensuing gun battle 12 militants were suspected to have been killed. 

Spokesman of the Army’s 4 Corps Col. R Kalia admitted the encounter and said the four arms and seven rounds of AK ammunition were recovered from the place. “There was an encounter when the militants fired at the troops. But I am not aware of any causality either on the part of the Black Widow or the army as we have not recovered any body from the place of occurrence,” said Kalia. 

The Government of Assam had recently sent a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India informing about the desire of the Black Widow militants to negotiate peace with the central government. 

The Black Widow faction of the Dimasa militants led by Jewel Garlocha had on March 25 declared unilateral ceasefire with the government of Assam for three months and the ceasefire was effective till June 26 next.  

Meanwhile, the Black Widow militants confirmed to the local media over telephone and said that 12 cadres of the outfit were killed by the army and four others were seriously injured. A spokesman of the outfit condemned the incident at Haralu and threatened to pull out from the unilateral ceasefire with the Government of Assam within seven days.  

It was also suspected that cadres of the NSCN (IM) were also involved in the incident as the Black Widow militates has an understanding with the Naga militant outfit. The Haralu village is predominantly inhabited by the Jemi-Naga tribals and the militants use the village as their shelter.  

The district, which has been safe haven of almost all the militant outfits of the region, had witnessed severe extortion and abduction in the past few years. The Amy had also suffered some causality in the district in the past and the district was recently brought under the jurisdiction of the 4 Corps of the Army from the 3 Corps based in Nagaland.