Guwahati 19 August : Eight members of the Kuki Tribal Union (KTU) surrendered to Assam Rifles officers at the base camp of the force located at Sarkari Bagan at Haflong in Assam’s Dima Hasao district on Friday officials said. Officials have stated they believed that Assam Rifles troopers motivated the KTU militants, who were involved in brutal activities as well as forcible collectivables from people in various states in the northeast to join the mainstream.
Sources have said that the eight cadres who surrendered were breakaway members of the militant organization Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) and joined the KTU in the year before.
“The group is primarily in the Kuki-dominated region of Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam’s Dima Hasao and Karbi district of Anglong.
The tribal militants in the past have begun collecting “taxes” (subscriptions) in Kuki tribal communities of Jiribam and Tamenglong,” an intelligence official told.
The militants are closely associated with the NSCN-IM and receive instruction from the Naga militant group.
According to official sources of the Manipur Home Department, over 20 Kuki militant groups operating in Manipur under two conglomerate groups -the United People’s Front (UPF) and Kuki National Organisation (KNO) -have signed a tripartite suspension of Operation contract with the Manipur and Central governments in 2008.Around 2,000 members of different militant groups, including Kuki outfits live in the 14 camps designated in various parts of Manipur.
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