GUWAHATI: Six people including an Indian army officer were killed in an encounter between security forces and two insurgent groups in Nagaland's Mon district bordering Myanmar past midnight Tuesday.
Although it is confirmed that six people were killed, there were conflicting reports about their identities. But the slain officer has been confirmed as Maj David Manlun of the Naga Territorial Army (NTA), a part of the Indian Army.
Three commandos of the elite 12 Para commando unit who were critically injured in the encounter and were evacuated to a military hospital in Assam’s Jorhat. When reports last came in, they were being treated in the intensive care unit.
The encounter took place at around 12.30 am when a combined team of the Para commandos and the Naga Territorial Army combed an area close to Lapa Lempong after receiving reports about the movement of a group of militants belonging to the Paresh Baruah faction of ULFA and SS Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K).
Local sources claimed that those killed included an Army officer, four militants and a civilian. But defence sources said two civilians and three militants were killed apart from Maj Manlun.
However, Nagaland's director-general of police, L.L. Doungel said he was unaware of any civilian causalities.
“The information I received was that six people were killed. They were a Naga Territorial Army major and five from the other side (militants). I haven't received any information about civilian casualties,” he told the New Indian Express.
Maj Manlun hailed from Churachandpur district in Manipur. His father, subedar (retired) Khamzalam, served in the Assam Rifles. Maj Manlun was a student of St Anthony’s School in Shillong, Meghalaya.
Several banned insurgent outfits of the Northeast work under the banner of the umbrella organisation United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNFLW) which was formed in April 2015 in Myanmar where the outfits have their bases.
In June 2015, 18 personnel of the Dogra Regiment were killed in an ambush in Chandel district of Manipur. The UNFLW claimed responsibility for that attack.
The NSCN-K unilaterally abrogated its 14-year-old ceasefire with India in 2015. Since then, it has carried out a series of attacks on security forces in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
Tags: major, Davin Manlun, Naga Territorial Army, Nagaland, Assam, ULFA, UNFLW, Mon district, ambush, encounter, north-east, Assam Rifles