Militants kidnap 42 people in Tripura

Militants of banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (Biswamohan group) kidnapped 37 people, mostly traders, from Kampui-Bhandarima road in North Tripura district early on Monday morning, they said.

About 30 militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, stopped two trucks and kidnapped the traders, who were going to a market at Kampui, at gun point, police said.

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Senior officials rushed to the spot with heavy contingent of police and paramilitary forces to rescue the kidnapped persons.

The kidnapping incident is the second biggest one in Tripura after the 1998's abduction of 48 persons from Longterai valley in Dhalai district.

In a separate incident, five traders were kidnapped by the militants of outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) from Kachubari market near the Indo-Bangla border in Khowai sub-division of West Tripura district on Sunday.

Police said a group of armed ATTF militants crossed the border and kidnapped the traders.

The militants managed to sneak into the Bangladesh territory with the kidnapped persons before the BSF personnel reached the scene, police said.

AFP adds: Federal troops are on high alert in tea plantations in India's northeastern state of Assam after separatists served extortion notices on a number of companies, police said in Guwahati yesterday.

A police spokesman said the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) had demanded extortion money from at least 20 medium to big tea companies owning plantations in eastern Assam's Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.