GUWAHATI: A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was injured when militants carried out an attack on Assam Rifles troops in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. Official sources said that the militants, suspected to be from the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Yung Aung faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-YA), fired shots from across the Myanmar border at around 3 am.
“The Assam Rifles troops were undertaking enhanced patrolling activities in view of heightened vigil for the upcoming Independence Day. One JCO sustained a minor injury in the hand. No injury or any other damage has been reported,” Assam’s Tezpur-based defence spokesperson Lt Col A S Walia said in a statement.
The site of the incident is one km away from the Pangsau Pass. The militants are believed to have used mortars in the attack. Gunshots were also heard on the international border in the Noklak district of neighbouring Nagaland. “The Assam Rifles said gunshots were heard at midnight. Our officers are at the site to verify it,” Noklak Superintendent of Police Pritpal Kaur told this newspaper.
Recently, several militant outfits of the Northeast, including ULFA and NSCN-YA which operate out of Myanmar, had jointly called for a boycott of Independence Day and appealed to people in the region not to participate in the celebration.
Meanwhile, a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Army, who was trampled to death by an elephant in West Bengal, was cremated with full military honours at his home town in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said.
Subedar Ram Singh of 25 Grenadiers was on duty when a group of elephants attacked his post in Siliguri on August 6, causing his death, the officials said.