Commanding officer of Assam Rifles killed with family in rebel ambush in Manipur

The Commanding Officer of Assam Rifles’ 46th Battalion has been killed in a rebel ambush with his wife and son in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.

Three Assam Rifles soldiers were also killed in what is easily the bloodiest rebel attack in India’s restive northeast this year.
One more soldier later succumbed to his wounds in hospital .

Reports say the commanding officer of 46 Assam Rifles Colonel Viplav Tripathi and his family were part of the convoy that was attacked by militants near Sehken Village of Behiang in Churachandpur district on Saturday.

All three were hit in the first hail of automatic fire unleashed by the rebels as the convoy negotiated a sharp bend on a hilly road around 10am on Saturday.

They died instantly.

Three soldiers trying to protect the CO’s vehicle also sustained bullet wounds and died on way to the local hospital at Behiang.

Several others sustained bullet wounds. Doctors say the death toll may rise.

It was not yet clear which of Manipur’s many rebel groups was involved in the attack. None has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Churachandpur in southern Manipur bordering Myanmar and Mizoram is dominated by the Kuki tribe and most Kuki rebel groups are observing ceasefire with the government.

Intelligence officials dont rule out the possibility of a Meitei rebel group like the PLA or UNLF carrying out the ambush .

These groups have refused to enter into ceasefire agreements with the government unlike the Naga and Kuki rebel groups.

The Assam Rifles crackdown on drug cartels operating on India-Myanmar border may also have made it a target for rebel groups who earn protection money from them. The Assam Rifles guards India’s border with Myanmar and serve as the leading counter-insurgency force in the region.

—-INDIA NEWS STREAM