Two Assam Rifles soldiers killed in Arunachal, 8 injured in ambush on convoy

Two Assam Rifles personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed and eight others injured when armed militants ambushed an AR convoy near Wakka in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday.

Two Assam Rifles personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed and eight others injured when their convoy was ambushed by a Naga rebel group in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday.

Representative photo. The attack at Assam Rifles convoy took place 20 kms from Indo-Myanmar border.(File Photo)

Defence officials said suspected militants of the SS Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) carried out the attack about 2 pm near Nginu village close to the India-Myanmar border.

“A column of the 16 Assam Rifles were returning from a routine patrol they had set out for on Friday. They came under heavy fire from the militants who used automatic weapons. While two personnel died, the condition of two of the eight injured is critical,” an Assam Rifles spokesperson said from the paramilitary force’s headquarters near Shillong.

The injured, including a deputy commandant, were airlifted to a military hospital in adjoining Assam.

This is the third ambush by the militants on security forces in the Northeast in the past fortnight.

On November 19, a combined team of the NSCN-K and the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent attacked the Army’s Kumaon Regiment personnel in Assam’s Tinsukia district, killing three and injuring four others.

On November 26, five commandos of 21 Para were injured in an ambush in Chandel district of Manipur.

Most insurgent outfits of the Northeast have their bases in Myanmar. At least five of them formed a coordinated front named United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia.