Six Assam Rifles men including an officer and five jawans were killed after suspected militants fired at a convoy of the Assam Rifles at a remote location in Manipur’s Chandel district on Sunday afternoon.
An Assam Rifles spokesman said that the incident took place at Joupi village along the Indo-Myanmar border in the district.
“The AR convoy was returning from a remote tribal village after assisting some landslide victims. When they reached Joupi village, the heavily armed militants opened fire at them, killing six personnel including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO),” he said adding that although the forces retaliated there was no causality on the part of the militants.
“More forces have been rushed to the village to carry out flush-out operations against the militants,” he said.
A report by the IANS said that the convoy of 29 Assam Rifles was approaching Holenjang village from the main camp at Joupi at 1 pm when the insurgents detonated remote-controlled bombs and opened fire from several sides. The exchange of fire lasted about one hour.
As news of the incident was received, reinforcements were rushed to the spot and operations launched to apprehend the perpetrators, who are believed to have escaped to the no man’s land between Manipur’s border with Myanmar. Though no militant group has claimed responsibility for the incident, yet security agencies suspect some Manipur-based militant groups had joined hands to carry out the attack.
The terrorists also snatched six AK-47 rifles and ammunition from the soldiers.
last year, a group of militants belonging to the NSCN (K), KCP and KYKl ambushed an Army convoy in Chandel district of Manipur and killed 18 Army personnel and injured 11 others, forcing the Government of India to launch an intensive operation against the militants.
In Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed security forces to take “strongest possible action” against militants involved in the ambush.
Singh reviewed the situation with Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other top officials in the security establishment. The Home Minister also spoke to Assam Rifles Director General, who apprised him of the situation and action taken so far.