Agartala: Three jawans of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) were killed and arms snatched in an ambush by the suspected insurgents of banned All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) at Tuipathar in West Tripura district, about 30 km from Agartala today (Feb 05, 2004), police said.

Police said a contingent of CRPF of 1st battalion along with staff of Jirania police station were conducting a search operation at Tuipathar, an insurgency-infested area in the district at about 07:30 hours (IST) and was fired upon by the ATTF ultras. The police returned the fire.

Three jawans died on the spot.

The ultras had laid an ambush and opened fire when the CRPF jawans reached the spot, police said, adding that three arms including one Insaas rifle, one SLR and one AK-47 with many live cartridges, were snatched by the ultras.

However, it was not known whether the insurgents suffered any casualty.

Superintendent of Police T B Roy and other top officials of the district rushed to the spot with reinforcement and launched a combing operation.

Three insurgents were killed by security forces in two encounters in Dhalai and West Tripura districts yesterday (Feb 04, 2004).