IMPHAL, November 15: The Assam Rifles has claimed to have killed four cadres of the NSCN (KK) in Tuensang district of Nagaland today.
A statement of the PRO IGAR (N) said that receiving information about the movement of a group of NSCN (K) cadres with weapons in the area of Laikunger Village which is about 2 km west of Shamatore in Tuensang district, a patrol of the AR reached the area in the early hours today.
It said as the patrol approached the Community Hall inside the village, they were fired upon with automatic assault rifles from inside the hall complex at which the troops fired back.
During no stage of the encounter which lasted almost two and half hour, did the underground cadres attempt to reveal their identity or surrender, it said.
It further claimed that the during the entire encounter, Assam Rifles maintained utmost restraint and used minimum force to ensure there were no civilian casualties or collateral damage.
After the firing stopped a detailed search of the area was carried out which resulted in the recovery of bodies of four underground cadres alongwith four assault rifles which included one AK-47 assault rifle, one M-16 assault rifle and two .303 assault rifles, it said.
In addition the underground cadres were in possession of 101 live bullets of AK-47 rifle, 230 live bullets of M-16 rifle and 29 live bullets of .303 rifle, the statement continued.
Over and above the live bullets, the area was scattered with 83 fired cases of AK-47/ M-16/ .303 bullets, it said. The underground cadres were armed to the teeth and fully prepared for intensive operations. Later in the day, it came to light that these cadres belonged to the NSCN (KK) faction, it said.
It said there had been inputs from intelligence agencies in the past week regarding movement of NSCN (K) cadres from Myanmar across the border in the districts of Mon, Tuensang, Zunheboto, Kiphire and Phek in Nagaland.
The NSCN(K) cadres had entered Nagaland to carry out subversive actions against the Security Forces as well as to collect extortion money from various agencies like TTK Services (Dimapur), Airtel Telecom (Dimapur, Kohima, Zunheboto etc), contractors, businessmen, annual tax from State Teachers Association (Zunheboto), annual house tax from villages etc. There were also reports of movement of cadres of NSCN (IM), NSCN (KK) and NSCN (R) in these areas for collection of similar taxes, it said.
Office of Chairman Cease Fire Monitoring Group (CFMG)/ Cease Fire Supervisory Board (CFSB) had been approached to inform all the underground factions having Cease Fire with GoI not to venture out with weapons, specifically in the districts of Tuensang, Kiphire and Phek to prevent any accidental encounter with Security Forces, it said.