Troops of Assam Rifles came under an IED attack in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district on Thursday morning. Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), in a release dispatched to the media houses in Imphal late this evening, said that cadres of its armed wing, People Liberation Army (PLA) engaged in the gunfight with the troops of 20 Assam Rifles at a place between Narum and Saibol villages.
The gunfight erupted when a special group of PLA heading for Moreh to access the ground situation of the deserted border town came face to face with the Assam Rifles troopers, it said, adding that injuries were inflicted to some personnel of the Assam Rifles.
Sources said that the troopers of the paramilitary forces on routine area domination along NH-102 were attacked by an IED explosion at a place along NH-102 between Narum and Saibol village, 20 km way from border town, Moreh.
The attack occurred around 8.30 am and there was no casualty on the part of the troopers of the Central paramilitary force.
The sources said that the attackers fired sophisticated weapons toward the troopers of Assam Rifles after triggering an IED planted on the road, targeting a convoy of the 20 Assam Rifles.
A gunfight ensued as the troops returned fire, the source added.
The IED went off as a Casper vehicle (mine protected vehicle) was approaching and no major damage was caused to the vehicle due to the impact of the blast. The troopers also escaped unhurt, the sources said. After the gunfight, additional troops rushed to the site and conducted a massive search operation to nab the attackers. However, there were no reports of detention of any suspect.
Even as there were instances of attacking state police and security forces moving on highway (NH-102) in recent times, Wednesday’s attack was probably the first time that Central paramilitary force came under attack since the ethnic violence rocked the state more than six months ago, on May 3.
In the latest incident, at least three escort personnel of an IGP of state police were injured when a convoy of a combined team of state police and state security forces rushed to Moreh of Tengnoupal district as reinforcement was ambushed by suspected militants. The reinforcement team was sent after a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) in the border town was shot dead by a sniper of suspected militants on October 31.