Bengal-Assam terror group KLO's head has surrendered: police

The chief of the terrorist group Kamtapur Liberation Organisation or KLO Jiban Singha Koch has surrendered. Police think he is likely to engage in peace talks with the Centre.

The KLO is active in Western Assam and Northern Bengal. The organisation has been demanding a separate Kamatapur state with parts of Cooch Behar, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, and Jalpaiguri districts along with some parts of Assam. Koch formed the group in 1995, three years after he graduated from Siliguri College.

Sources told NDTV that Koch and his nine-member group surrendered near the Indo-Myanmar border in the Longwa region in Mon district last Friday. Many senior members of KLO have surrendered in the past. Last year, the second most important leader of the organisation Kailash Koch and his wife surrendered before the police in Kolkata.

The organisation claims that it was formed to address problems of the Koch Rajbongshi people such as large-scale unemployment, land alienation, perceived neglect of the Kamtapuri language, identity, and grievances of economic deprivation. In recent years, several senior members of the community have supported the BJP in assembly polls.

The Union Home Ministry has been taking steps to resolve conflicts with militant groups of the northeast including KLO. The Centre recently allowed KLO leadership hiding in Myanmar to enter India for peace talks via mediators.