Imphal, July 1 NNN: Four Kuki militants including the leader of Kuki National Army (KNA) have been killed in a gunbattle between the Kuki outfit and the Assam Rifles on Saturday, according to the police.
The source said today that the incident occurred in Ukhrul district bordering Myanmar.
According to the police, the self styled commander-in-chief of KNA identified as Lungam was killed along with three other cadres of the outfit.
Police said troops of 44 Assam Rifles and the cadres of KNA had an encounter on Saturday at around 2 pm at a place called Phaikok under Chassad police station in Ukhrul district which is around 40 kilometres from Chassad police station.
Two AK-series rifles and one M-16 rifle, 200 live rounds of ammunition and one Motorola wireless set were recovered from the spot where the encounter took place, the police said today.
The dead bodies of the militants have been retrieved by the personnel of Chasad police this morning.
Till the filing of this story the police carrying the dead bodies are still proceeding towards the morgue of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for deposition.
It can be noted that two years ago, some cadres had deserted KNA camp located in interior Chandel district of Manipur only to announce formation of a new group, Kuki National Army (Unification). However, they could not operate actively as the mother organization declared them as deserters and warned for surrender.
KNA is among the 19 Kuki militant groups operating in Manipur maintaining ceasefire with government forces under a tripartite agreement of Suspension of Operation (SoO) under two apex bodies, Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF).
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/four-kuki-militants-shot-dead/
