Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Militants of the SS Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) ambushed a column of the Assam Rifles in Nagaland on Sunday, killing two personnel and injuring four others.

The NSCN-K claimed that more than six personnel were killed and an equal number injured in the attack. The incident occurred near Aboi town in Mon district, bordering Myanmar, at around 2.30 pm. Aboi is some 23 km from Mon town.

Defence sources told The New Indian Express that the column of the 40 Assam Rifles was fetching water in a vehicle when the militants ambushed the personnel by triggering an IED blast, followed by indiscriminate gunfire.

“Two personnel were killed while four others were injured in the incident. Further details are awaited,” a source said.

One of the slain jawans was a havildar who was driving the vehicle. It was learnt that some of the jawans were grievously injured and airlifted to Assam’s Jorhat town, where they were being treated at the military hospital.

NSCN-K “deputy kilonser” (deputy minister) “col” Isak Sumi told The New Indian Express that the attack was a part of the outfit’s ongoing “Summer Offensives to sanitise the land against illegal deployment of occupational Indian forces and rein in their illegal activities, provocative movements, perpetration of terror and disturbances of peace and tranquillity in the Naga country”.

Last week, the NSCN-K had carried out an attack on a post of the Assam Rifles at Shengha Lampong in Mon district. Sumi claimed “two Indian soldiers were killed and two others, including the unit commander in the rank of Major, were injured” in that incident.