A chilling video has emerged of villagers being beaten brutally in Meghalaya by suspected militants who allegedly wanted to make an example out of "informers".The video was allegedly taken on mobile phone by a militant.In the footage, militants believed to be from the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army are shown thrashing several villagers mercilessly with canes until they fall unconscious.The villagers were hit with so much force that the canes broke. Some were attacked by four or five men at the same time.The beatings took place on September 4, the Meghalaya police say.Armed men allegedly came to the village, lined up young men and accused them of being passing on information to the police.Six days later, the police raided the village to find the militants camping there. In the crossfire that followed, one alleged militant was killed.The mobile phone clip was found during that raid, said senior Meghalaya police officer GHP Raju."They took the footage to show it as an example. But we never use innocent villagers as informers," he told NDTV.

The police are worried that militants like these have abandoned the jungles and are veering towards villages where they terrorise people."It is very disturbing that the militants are operating from villages. Our police teams are now visiting village to village to take out militants," the police officer said, talking about the operation code-named "Hillstorm" in the Garo hills.