Five militants were killed in an encounter with army in lower Assam's Sonitpur district in the wee hours on Monday. Troops of the Red Horns division exchanged fire with the insurgents belonging to National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam late on Sunday night at Akabasti, 8 km southeast of Lokra, army sources said.
After a heavy gunbattle lasting nearly four hours, three NDFB and two MULTA extremists were killed at around 1 am. Five 9-mm pistols, a Chinese grenade, five kg of explosives, 10 detonators, 107 rounds of AK series ammunition were recovered from the slain ultras.