GUWAHATI: Two youths and a DNLA militant were killed and eight others injured at a designated camp for the militants in Assam's Dima Hasao district, officials said on Tuesday.
Police said that Dimasa National Liberation Army militants kidnapped six local youths on Sunday and detained them in their designated camp at Kasmaipur, where the surrendered DNLA militants were staying after coming over ground recently.
The police went to the camp after the villagers complained the police about the abduction and found two bodies of the youths while rescuing the four injured, who were later admitted to the Haflong Civil Hospital.
The police have learnt that the two youths were beaten to death and the other four injured as the DNLA militants severely tortured them.
Police said that they also found five injured DNLA cadres were also kept in a separate room of the designated camp. All the five were rescued and admitted to the Haflong Civil Hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
The five were injured after the senior DNLA cadres severely thrashed them after they had recently tried to escape from the camp.
Police arrested five DNLA militants including one of their leaders in connection with these incidents.
Around 50 cadres of the DNLA outfit had come over ground in September and November after the militant group had declared a unilateral ceasefire on September 7.
Responding to the militant outfit's unilateral ceasefire for six months, the Assam government on September 10 announced that it would also stop security operations against the outfit.
The DNLA, which was formed in 2018 to demand a sovereign and independent Dimasa nation, reportedly carried out extortion and abduction activities in Dima Hasao and the adjoining Karbi Anglong districts. The Dima Hasao district, formerly North Cachar District, one of Assam's three hill districts, was earlier a hotbed of militant activities, but in the recent years, has not seen any major extremist violence.