MOREH, March 15: At least one personnel of Assam Rifles was killed and another three personnel were left injured when two powerful IED bombs exploded simultaneously this morning at around 7:30 am near Kundong Leirembi under Moreh police station in Chandel district.
According to reports, the two IEDs were planted on the road sides near Prayer Hill which is located around two and half kilometre away from Kundong Lairembi temple towards Imphal along National Highway 2.
The bombs were triggered using a remote control device from a distance of around one and half metres away when the personnel of 9 Assam Rifles under HQ 26 Sector posted at Moreh who were on Road Opening Patrol (ROP) duty reached the area.
Havildar Dumar Bahadur (38) was killed on the spot while Havildar No. G/95938W Thakur Singh, Rifleman No 941211-Y Apan Jokkam and Rifleman No 959382-W Upendra Nayak sustained multiple injuries.
Right after receiving the news, extra forces were sent in and the injured personnel were taken to the Military Unit Hospital at the HQ 57 Mountain Division at Leimakhong using two helicopters.
AR personnel while blocking the NH-2, Imphal-Moreh Road conducted search operations in the area till 11:30 am. The AR personnel also barred media from entering the area.
Police personnel from Moreh police station as well as Moreh CDO post also came and joined the search operations however, no one was arrested. The Commandant of HQ 26 Sector, Assam Rifles also arrived at the blast site. A case has been registered at Moreh police station in regard to the incident.
Meanwhile, a press statement signed by the Chief of department of publicity of the proscribed Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), Bangkim has claimed that the bomb attacked was carried out by a special warfare group of its arm wing, PLA .
The statement has also claimed that five personnel of the 9 Assam Rifles were killed in the attack and other few personnel were left injured. The injured and dead bodies were taken away quickly in a manner not let anyone see it using two helicopters in order to hide casualties from the AR side, it claimed.
It went on to say that according to a news item published in a newspaper on March 12, 2013, the Defence Minister Antony said in the Indian parliament that 337 Indian Army personnel were killed in 2010, 2011, 2012 and in the current year 2013, two were killed during the counter insurgency operations at Jammu & Kashmir and North East. It added that the dead figures of the Indian army are from Manipur, as Jammu & Kashmir and other “North East states, as India calls it,” have reported very less attacks against the armies during these years.