IMPHAL, June 23: The PIB has said in a press statement that six militants were killed in a shoot-out in the area of Shonglung in Tamenglong district.
The statement said, “Based on intelligence gathered from various sources since last one month about presence of heavily armed cadres of Number Vill Mobile Group of NSCN (K), a coordinated cordon and search operation was launched in the area of Shonglung in Tamenglong district by security forces of the Nonei Battalion under the aegis of Red Shield Division”.
“On June 22 2013 at approximately 4pm in the evening, during the search operations a group of heavily armed UG cadres ran into the Security Forces ambush parties and fired upon them”, it continued.
“The Security Forces responded with calibrated fire. After an intense firefight lasting for over one hour, the area was cordoned off by the Security Forces”, it said.
“A search of the area commenced during the early hours of June 23. During the search, bodies of six unidentified UG cadres in combat fatigue were recovered by the Security Forces along with huge quantity of arms and ammunition”, the PIB statement said.
“The recoveries included four AK 47 Rifles, one M 16 Rifle, one A3 Rifle, seven Magazines of AK 47, two Magazine of M-16, 47 live rounds of AK 47 and 38 live rounds of M 16”, it said.
The search operation is still under progress in the area, the statement said.
“Maj Gen KK Sinha, GOC Red Shield Division and Brig PC Nair, Cdr Loktak Brigade visited the site to take stock of the situation”, it said.
“On 18 June, troops of Red Shield Division busted a likely camp of NSCN (K)/ZUF and recovered huge quantity of explosives and war like stores. The operation under Col Ajay Sharma and his team of Officers and Jawans of the Nonei Battalion is a major blow to the armed outfits”, it said.
Our reporter adds: Soon on receiving information about the shoot-out, police personnel from the nearest police outpost, Keithelmanbi Police Outpost rushed in to the spot.
Since the outpost had only one vehicle, the personnel rushed to the spot on a rented Shaktiman truck to recover the dead bodies of the UG cadres who were killed in the shoot-out.
However, since the exact spot was some 20 kms away from Kangchup hillfoot along a steep uphill road, the vehicle broke down enroute to the spot and as such, the police team failed to reach the spot till late this evening. However, it is learnt that the police rented another vehicle and managed to reach the spot this late night.
The dead bodies of the alleged UG cadres will only be brought at the RIMS mortuary tomorrow.
In the meantime, another team of the Gamnom Sapermeina Police Station under whose jurisdiction the spot falls had also rushed to the spot to provide help to the Keithelmanbi Police team. The dead alleged UG cadres are yet to be identified till the filling of this report, however the concerned police station has registered a formal case on the incident.