GUWAHATI: Just hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state, armed militants targeted an Assam Rifles vehicle carrying a patrol team in Assam’s Tinsukia district on Tuesday.
Confirming the incident, the Assam Rifles, through a statement on April 16, said that three vehicles of Assam Rifles moving from Changlang towards Margherita were ambushed by unknown personnel near Namdhang at around 8 :30 am.
The troops retaliated and thwarted the ambush but, in the process one person sustained gun shot wounds.
The individual has been evacuated to Military Hospital Jorhat and his condition is stable, the statement read.
Tinsukia police also told the local press that preliminary insights suggest that the militants infiltrated Indian territory via Arunachal Pradesh, utilising its rugged terrain to perpetrate subversive activities.
The porous border shared by Arunachal Pradesh with Myanmar and China facilitated the militants’ access into Indian territory, presenting a complex challenge for security forces, the police said.
The police also told the press that an investigation is underway, with law enforcement swiftly mobilising to ascertain the precise sequence of events.
In response to the escalating security threat, authorities have launched a joint operation encompassing Tinsukia and its environs, aiming to neutralise the militant presence and restore peace to the region.
Meanwhile, United Liberation Front of Axom-Independent’s (ULFA-I), in a statement post the incident, claimed responsibility for the ambush.
Self-styled captain of the proscribed outfit, Rumel Axom asserted that the attack caused damage to numerous vehicles owned by the 13th Assam Rifles and inflicted serious injuries on several army personnel.
The statement also accused security forces of imposing media restrictions in the region to purportedly conceal the true situation.
