New Delhi: Preliminary investigations by Central intelligence agencies and the National Investigation Agency into the killing of 18 Army jawans in Manipur’s Chandel district last week indicate there is strong evidence to suggest that a section of the Burma Army was involved in giving training and sophisticated weapons to terrorists behind the massacre. “We have concrete information to suggest that a group of at least 30 militants from NSCN (Khaplang) and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup were given intense training for about a month in the thick jungles of Burma near the Indian border by some Myanmar Army officers. They also equipped (the rebels) with sophisticated weapons like rocket launchers and AK guns, which were apparently used in the killing of the soldiers in Manipur,” a senior intelligence official said.
The NIA and the intelligence agencies have constituted a special team to investigate the ambush and a formal case has been registered by the NIA in Guwahati. Investigations also revealed that the group involved in the attack had already crossed over into Burma, and was hiding in camps in the thick jungle and are being protected by some Burma Army personnel.
It is also suspected that the weapons used in the incident were specially smuggled from China for this terror module by the Paresh Barua faction of Ulfa. Initial investigations indicate that at least two to three terror groups operating in the Northeast may have joined hands to carry out the attack.
Several militant outfits recently formed an umbrella body called the United National Liberation Front of Western Southeast Asia to target the security forces in the Northeast. Officials, closely monitoring these developments, say those involved in the attack can’t be arrested or eliminated till the Burma government cooperates with Indian security agencies.
“Once we are able to establish the exact identity, we will approach the government there for assistance,” the official added. There is a view among MHA that the NSCN (Khaplang) faction may have broken the ceasefire agreement due to pressure from some vested interests in the Burma Army and China’s PLA.
