IMPHAL, May 22: At least six personnel of 29 Assam Rifles including one Junior Commissioned Officer died and seven other personnel were injured in an ambush laid by suspected militants at Hengshi village near Joupi under Tengnoupal police station in Chandel district today. The Coordination Committee (CorCom), a conglomerate body of several underground outfits has claimed its hand behind the ambush. CorCom said that the ambush was carried out by a Joint Fighting Force and added that six personnel including one JCO were killed. Meanwhile, a statement issued by PRO Hqs IGAR (S) said that a convoy of Assam Rifles while returning after assessing a landslide area in Holengjang to the Battalion Headquarters location at Joupi in Chandel district had an encounter with cadrs of a militant group at 1 pm today. In the ensuing fire fight, one Junior Commissioned Officer and five soldiers were martyred. The troops retaliated the insurgents effectively, however the insurgents managed to get away under thick forest cover and bad weather. The mortal remains of the martyrs would be sent to their home towns. The area of the encounter has been cordoned off and intensive combing operations have been launched to neutralize the insurgent group and prevent them from crossing over to Myanmar, the statement said.
Reliable sources said that the AR convoy was led by 29 Assam Rifles CO Ranjit Raj Singh and they were returning to their headquarters located at Joupi after inspecting the landslide which occurred near the Indo-Myanmar border. The CO miraculously escaped unhurt in the deadly attack, said a source. When the convoy reached Hengshi village, some distance away from Joupi headquarters of 29 Assam Rifles under 28 Sector, they came under attack from the militants at around 12.40 pm. The militants exploded IEDs before they rained bullets on the AR convoy. The AR team also retaliated the attack, however, six personnel died at the spot and seven other personnel were injured. Another source said that the suspected militants took take away one Light Machine Gun, four AK Rifles and one Insas Rifle along with ammunition when they escaped inside the thick jungle. Soon after the incident, a large reinforcement team of paramilitary forces, Assam Rifles and State police personnel of Chandel district rushed to the spot and launched an extensive search operation at the area to nab the attackers. The search operation was still going at the time of filing this report.
The deceased AR personnel have been identified as Subedar Baldev Kumar Sharma (Himachal Pradesh), Rifleman Pawan Kumar (Jammu), Rifleman Mahesh Gurung, Rifleman Bhupendra Kumar (Himachal Pradesh), Rifleman Akhilesh Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) and Havildar Suraj Bariya. All the bodies and injured personnel were taken to 29 Assam Rifles headquarters, Joupi. The bodies are likely to be brought to RIMS hospital, Imphal for post mortem examination late tonight or early tomorrow morning.
