A paramilitary soldier was killed today in a fierce gunbattle with suspected militants in Tripura, close to the India-Bangladesh border.
Soldiers from the Border Security Force (BSF) were on patrol in a remote, forest area of Kanchanpur sub-division — near the Tripura-Mizoram-Bangladesh trijunction — when they came under fire from men suspected to be from the National Liberation Front of Tripura (Biswamohan) or NLFT (BM). The soldiers retaliated "but the insurgents fled from the site under cover of dense forest", a BSF note said.
"Head Constable Girjesh Kumar Uddey sustained bullet injuries and was immediately evacuated by helicopter to Agartala, where he later succumbed to the grievous injuries," the note added. Sources said he had been hit by at least four bullets.
The BSF said its Inspector General has reached the spot for "close coordination" with the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to track down the attackers.
In a similar attack last year, two BSF men were killed in an ambush by militants from the same group, also along the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura.
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