Silchar, June 11: The Centre has agreed to send more companies of paramilitary forces to Assam’s disturbed North Cachar Hills district, scarred by a three-month-long ethnic feud between the Dimasas and Hmars.

The exact strength of the forces will be decided only after Union minister of state for home Swami Chinmayanand visits Haflong, though a date has not been fixed yet. Assam health minister Bhumidhar Barman’s visit to Haflong has been rescheduled for tomorrow. He will lead a seven-member government team from Guwahati to study the situation in North Cachar. The team will explore ways to restore amity between the two warring tribes and concentrate on confidence-building measures.

Superintendent of police in North Cachar T.P. Singh, speaking over telephone from Haflong this morning, said though the army, Assam Armed Police and India Reserve Battalion have considerably bolstered security in the area, the troops are still finding it difficult to track down militants because of the hostile terrain.

But the stepped-up security has paid dividends. The army claimed to have averted a major confrontation yesterday between the tribes in the riot-scarred North Cachar Hills district by timely deployment of troops.

An army press release said two columns of the 5/8 Gorkha Rifles under the Red Shield division blocked a gang of Dimasa militants headed towards the Hmar settlements of Sharon, Hebron and Garden near Mahur town. The armed Hmars were also gearing up for a showdown.

The troops took up positions at 11.30 am and took on the advancing gangs, killing one Hmar and four Dimasas.

The ethnic strife between the Dimasas and the Hmars, which began in February, has claimed 55 lives in North Cachar and adjacent Cachar district.

The release said the army has seized an AK-47 rifle and four locally-made ones during its joint operations with the police. Official sources said 78 Hmar houses were torched in the district yesterday.

A senior Army officer said the forces were still combing the nearby forests where the rest of the militants had fled after the encounter. Singh said 13 Dimasas have been arrested.

But the Dima Halam Daoga (DHD) today clarified that none of its cadre had taken part in the Mahur incident. Dip Dimasa, DHD office secretary, today said over telephone from Haflong that the DHD was bound by the ceasefire rules with the Centre, and hence, would always refrain from taking part in hostilities.

He said the outfit is trying its best to dissuade Dimasas from attacking Hmars. “But if the Hmars continue to provoke the Dimasas into retaliating, then the DHD should not be held responsible,” he said.

The policemen injured in the Mahur encounter have been identified as sub-inspector Anukul Malakar and constables Ranjit Saikia and Karuna Kalita.

The junior commissioned officer, who was also injured, is subedar J. Thapa, who was evacuated in a helicopter to an army hospital at Rangapahar near Dimapur yesterday. The policemen and the subedar are said to be out of danger.

Two injured Hmar youths, Laldiksang and Lal Lien, are now being treated in Haflong civil hospital.

Curfew in Haflong and Mahur was relaxed for five hours today from 10 am.