Jowai, March 28: Police busted a joint camp of Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) and National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in the Jaintia Hills last evening.

Two HNLC rebels were killed and a large quantity of arms and ammunition seized during the operation.

The incident followed the arrest of six HNLC activists from various localities of Umkiang in Jaintia Hills on Wednesday. The arrested militants were Immanuel Umtluh alias Shwa, the commander of HNLC in Jaintia Hills, Wilinder Margnar alias Chyne, Riskin Phawa, Syrpailin Mawlong alias Balang Taibor Sawian and Chedrak Wanniang.

The arrested militants led the special operations team of Meghalaya police to the base camp at Wah Lymphong on the outskirts of Umkiang yesterday.

The police asked the militants to surrender but had to retaliate after they opened fire.

Two HNLC rebels, Vicky Majaw and Leader, were killed in the firing. However, three NLFT militants who were in the camp managed to escape.

Two AK-56 rifles, two Japan-made handsets, four loaded guns, one .22 countrymade revolver, two Chinese hand grenades, demand notes of the HNLC, a mobile phone, incriminating documents belonging to NLFT and 33 rounds of live ammunition were found at the encounter site.

NDFB militants held: Police arrested three National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) rebels, Ranjan Basumatary, Bivhumsar Boro and Okrang Boro, from Tilapara village in Karbi Anglong district around 6.30pm on Friday evening.

At a joint press conference at Jowai today, Jaintia Hills SP Mukesh Singh and SP (special branch) Claudia Lyngwa said the police had been monitoring the movement of the HNLC rebels, who were sent by the top HNLC leaders in Bangladesh to Jaintia Hills.

They confirmed that the NLFT provides arms to the HNLC, which in turn shares its extortion amount with the NLFT militants.

According to police, the documents seized from the camp reveal a close understanding between the two outfits.

Police said since the past two months, the HNLC has been carrying on with their extortion drive in Jaintia Hills, particularly targeting the owners of coalfields.