Arunachal Pradesh legislator and NPP candidate Tirong Aboh (PTI)

GUWAHATI: Suspected National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) militants shot and killed an Arunachal Pradesh legislator and 10 others after waylaying his convoy of four vehicles in the frontier state’s Tirap district on Tuesday morning. The dead legislator, Tirong Aboh, belonged to the National People’s Party and was a candidate for Khonsa West in the just-concluded assembly election.

“Aboh’s convoy was waylaid between Deomali and Bogapani and they shot him, his teenage son, Longgem, two bodyguards and seven others,” an Arunachal Police official said. The spot of the attack is 15km from the Assam-Arunachal border. “Aboh was going to Khonsa from Dibrugarh ,” he added.

“The militants struck around 11.30am. They fired from close range. All those killed were found dead in their seats. Some of them had their seatbelts fastened,” the official said. The attackers also set one vehicle on fire. Two of the dead were yet to be identified. “One injured bodyguard and a supporter were taken to Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh. One woman supporter and another bodyguard escaped unhurt,” the official said.

‘NSCN (IM) didn’t want MLA to contest assembly poll’

Security agency sources said, “Aboh was known as a no-nonsense politician and often received threats from the NSCN (I-M) for his opposition to their presence in Arunachal.”

They added, “There were reports that NSCN(I-M) had warned Aboh not to contest the assembly election.” This is the second time that suspected NSCN(I-M) rebels have resorted to killings in Arunachal since the announcement of the assembly and Lok Sabha election dates. On March 29, they killed Jaley Anna, one of Aboh’s supporters from NPP, at Kheti village in Tirap district.

NPP leader and former Arunachal home minister Kumar Waii said, “This is the first political assassination to have taken place in Arunachal. We want an investigation into this by the government.”

Tuesday’s killings, which come just two days before the declaration of poll results, came as a surprise to the Army and Assam Rifles. The site of the attack is an area under the command of the Army’s 3rd Corps, based in Dimapur , Nagaland. Lately, there have been instances of northeastern militants trying to get into India from Myanmar following a flush-out campaign by the neighbouring country.

Tirap is among three Arunachal districts known to have a significant presence of militants from NSCN(I-M), NSCN(K), NSCN(R) and Ulfa(I). Located at the tri-junction of Assam, Nagaland and Myanmar, these districts are part of “Nagalim” (Greater Nagaland, overlapping India and Myanmar), a long-standing demand of Naga outfits.



In Video: MLA, six others killed by terrorists in Arunachal Pradesh