An Assam forest guard was
critically injured after unidentified miscreants opened fire near the Thandapani timber depot camp in Assam's Sonitpur district last night.
A group of 15 armed miscreants swooped on the camp under Borgang forest range and fired at the unarmed forest guard, Someswar Bora (52), seriously injuring him, A K Dey, Divisional Forest Officer (East Base) at Biswanath Chariali told PTI today.
Three officials in the camp under Behali police station managed to escape, Dey said, adding Bora was shifted to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital today.
Dey, who rushed to the site, has deployed additional Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) at Thandapani camp about 3 km from Arunachal Pradesh.
He said police recovered four rounds of .22 rifle bullets and two rounds of SBBL guns from the spot.
Sonitpur deputy commissioner Lalit Gogoi also reached the spot along with superintendent of police Arabinda Kalita and told PTI that additional police force has been deployed.
Gogoi said the identity of the assailants was not yet established as investigations are on.
Meanwhile, the Arunachal Agrasan Patirudh Samittee today blocked the NH-52 for two hours at Borgang protesting against the attack on the forest guard and the government's alleged inability to provide sufficient arms to forest guards.
The blockade halted traffic from Lakhimpur in upper Assam to Biswanath Chariali and Tezpur in lower Assam.
Assam forest department officials of the Sonitpur East Division had undertaken an eviction drive recently against encroachers at Behali reserve forest in Chauldhua area about 8 km from Thandapani camp, forest department sources said.
