IMPHAL, November 17: Atleast one personnel of the Assam Rifles was killed and two others grievously injured in a militant ambush in Old Samtal area of Chandel district.<\/p>\n
The ambush comes just five months after the deadly June 4 Paraolon ambush which left 18 Assam Rifles personnel dead and several injured.<\/p>\n
Defying the \u2018night curfew\u2019 imposed by the Army and Assam Rifles since mid October along the highly porous Myanmar border to check militant activities, a patrolling party of the 3 Assam Rifles was ambushed today in the interior area of Chandel district near old Somtal by heavily armed insurgents.<\/p>\n
Sources said the attack occurred at around 3 pm and continued till late night, leaving one Assam Rifles personnel dead and two others grievously injured.<\/p>\n
There may be more injuries, but reports on the number of injured remain sketchy at the time of filing this report.<\/p>\n
It is learnt that the Assam Rifles troopers were conducting a detailed patrolling in the area between border pillar number 59 and 60 at around 3 pm today.<\/p>\n
The patrol party numbering around 40 personnel were moving amidst the thick jungle terrain, when all of a sudden, automatic gunfire broke out aimed at the front of the patrolling party.<\/p>\n
The 3 AR party was heavily ambushed by well armed militants using sophisticated weapons including grenade launchers, according to the source.<\/p>\n
As the Assam Rifles personnel also took cover, there was heavy exchange of gunfire between the two sides which continued for hours.<\/p>\n
As the said area is located more than 8 hours from the Assam Rifles headquarters, moving in swift additional reinforcements to the attack spot was logistically un-feasible, according to a source.<\/p>\n
It is learnt that the two injured Assam Rifles personnel are being brought back along the jungle track which is not motorable.<\/p>\n
It is also learnt that the attackers later retreated into the jungle and crossed the Myanmar border afterwards.<\/p>\n
At the moment, there is no claim from any particular insurgent group but the area of operation is mainly dominated by some valley based underground organizations and NSCN (Khaplang).<\/p>\n
The Paraolon ambush was carried out by a joint team of the NSCN (K), KYKL ad KCP which are members of the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFW).<\/p>\n\n