Agartala, Dec. 11: The wife and daughter of a CPM leader in Kachubari, under Champahaor police station of West Tripura, were shot dead by NLFT militants today. Shyamacharan Debbarma, the CPM leader, escaped the attack as he was away when the rebels struck his home.

Superintendent of police (West) Nepal Das said 12 armed militants stormed the Debbarma residence at 3 pm. Debbarma?s wife Usharani told the rebels that her husband was at the party office. Enraged at having missed the target, the militants shot Usharani and her daughter Rina from point blank range and fled to the jungles.

Police and TSR jawans are combing the area, but no one was arrested so far.