Six personnel of the 29 Assam Rifles were killed in an ambush by terrorists in Manipur on Sunday, reported The Indian Express. The Quick Reaction Team of 29 officers had gone to take stock of the situation in a landslide-hit area in Chandel district. The team, which also included an officer, was caught off guard in Joubi while on its way back around 1 pm.
“A convoy of Assam Rifles while returning after assessing a landslide area in Holingjang to the Batallion headquarters location at Joupi in Chandel district of South Manipur had an encounter with suspected valley based insurgent groups…In the ensuing fire fight, one Junior Commissioned Officer and five soldiers were martyred. The troops retaliated but the insurgents managed to get away under thick forest cover and bad weather,” the Eastern Command in Kolkata said in a statement.
The terrorists also took four AK-47 guns, one light machine gun, one Insas rifle and ammunition from the soldiers. According to the report, an umbrella organisation of terrorist groups, CorCom, orchestrated the attack. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is believed to have directed the force to take the "strongest possible action" against the perpetrators.
On June 4, 2015, as many as 17 soldiers of the 6 Dogra regiment were killed in an ambush carried out by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) in the same district.
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