Six soldiers, including an officer, were killed as a group of militants ambushed an Assam Rifles convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district, near the Indo-Myanmar border, on Sunday afternoon.
Six soldiers, including an officer, were killed as a group of militants ambushed an Assam Rifles convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district, near the Indo-Myanmar border, on Sunday afternoon.
The incident occurred around 1 pm when the personnel of 29 Assam Rifles were returning to their camp after inspecting a landslide site at Holenjang village in the interior tribal district, defence and police officials said. A JCO and five jawans were among the dead.
After the attack, the troops retaliated but the insurgents managed to flee under thick forest cover and bad weather. It is suspected that two or more militant groups had jointly carried out the attack in Joupi Hengshi area under Molcham police station, the officials said.
This is the first major attack in Manipur after 18 Army jawans were killed in the same district last year in an ambush by NSCN(K) militants.
In New Delhi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh held a review of the security situation with home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and senior security officials. The minister directed the security forces to take the “strongest possible action” againt the militants involved, and also spoke to the Assam Rifles director-general, who briefed him on the action taken so far. Expressing sorrow over the incident, the home minister said: “My condolences are with the families of the deceased soldiers.”
An Assam Rifles officer said in Imphal: “The area of the encounter has been cordoned off and intensive combing operations have been launched to neutralise the insurgent group and prevent them crossing over to Myanmar.”
The dead were identified as Subedar Baldeo Sharma, the JCO, and riflemen Pawan Kumar, Mahesh Gurung, Bhupender Kumar and Akhilesh Kumar Pandey and havildar Surajit Barla. Their mortal remains are being sent to their homes.
In Kolkata, Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, GOC-in-C of Eastern Command, expressed his deep condolences to the families of those slain, and said: “The nation owes gratitude to the ultimate sacrifice made by Assam Rifles personnel like them in the fight against insurgents. We in the Army are committed to provide all necessary support to their families in this hour of grief.”
