A joint team of the army and police gunned down seven tribal militants on Friday morning in an encounter inside a dense forest along the Assam-Mizoram border in Karimganj district of South Assam.

Police informed that the slain militants belonged to the United Democratic Liberation Army, an outfit of Reang or Bru tribals.

A non-commissioned officer of the army was also injured in the encounter.

The joint operation of the Assam Police and the 33 Field Regiment of the army was carried out on specific inputs about a group of armed rebels who had set up camp at Gutguti-basti inside a forest close to the inter-state border. The group has been involved in carrying out abductions and extortions in the district in the past several months.

All the slain militants were dressed in olive green battle fatigue. Security forces recovered a few sophisticated weapons from the site. The site of the encounter is so remote that it could be reached only after seven hours march on foot. The bodies of the slain militants were brought to Rangpur border outpost around 6 PM on Friday.