PLA's First Drone Strike from Myanmar Unfolds New Threat in Manipur

Kolkata: A drone attack by the banned insurgent group People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for the first time on the security forces in India from Myanmar threatens to derail the Centre's efforts to revive communal harmony between the Meiteis and the Kukis in the northeastern state, now under the President's Rule following two-year-long ethnic clashes.

The latest challenge emerged after the PLA, a proscribed Meitei outfit, last week claimed responsibility for the powerful drone strike on a forward outpost of Assam Rifles in Tengnoupal district in Manipur early on November 28 that left four troopers of the paramilitary force injured.

The PLA circulated a video of nearly seven minutes on social media, showing how its 404 Mobile Force carried out the pre-dawn attack, codenamed Operation LANG-OL, flying UAVs to drop three bombs on a temporary operating base of an Assam Rifles battalion following an aerial reconnaissance. The footage also captured the Assam Rifles troopers rushing out of their post for cover after getting hit.

The targeted location was near the India-Myanmar border pillars 85 and 86 at Yangoupokpi, between Saibol and Maringthel villages. A security official, on the condition of anonymity, told this newspaper that the stretch between border pillars 60 and 90 has been embroiled in multiple encounters between security forces and insurgent groups which constantly jockey for their operational space.

Referring to the drone attack, the official said, “This is the first aerial strike of its kind in the series of attacks by the insurgents in the last year in the zone.” The security forces later zeroed in on Min Thar, a hilly terrain covered with forest in Sagaing in Myanmar and within 2 km of the border with India, where the militants have been camping and launched the strike from.

According to sources, around 800-1,000 militants from the PLA and another outfit, the United National Liberation Front, are suspected to be operating out of the hideout. It has fortified bunkers and anti-drone systems. Backed by the Myanmar Army amid a civil war, it is also used by the insurgents for training of cadres, arms and ammunition storage, a launchpad for attacks and a post-operation shelter for the rebels.

Ironically, the Assam Rifles outpost, which the Meitei insurgents targeted from across the border, is not far from Kwatha village in the hills, which is inhabited by their own community members and has remained unscathed thanks to the robust security forces’ presence during the ethnic flare-up earlier across Manipur. The village also happens to be the Meiteis’ lone settlement in the Tengnoupal district.

The security officials argue that while the Assam Rifles has been successfully performing a dual role, combating the Meitei insurgent groups across the border while simultaneously protecting their community from others on their homeland, the time has come for the policymakers at the apex level to take note of the Myanmar Army’s support to the same militant outfits that threaten Indian security forces in Manipur from across the border.