Army jawan injured in militant attack on convoy near Assam-Arunachal border
Guwahati: An Army jawan was critically wounded when heavily armed militants on Tuesday morning launched an attack on a convoy of Assam Rifle and Indian Army in Assam’s Tinsukia district near Assam- Arunachal Pradesh border.
Informing that troops had about 25 jawans, security sources said that militants used rocket launchers and AK series rifles to attack them.
The jawan, identified as Hawladar Om Prakash, co-driver of a truck, sustained multiple bullet injuries and he has been airlifted to Dinjan Military Station in Dibrugarh for treatment, security sources said.
Security sources said that the incident took place at about 8 am at Namdang area under Margherita Police Station. “The troop had around 25 jawans and they were attacked with rocket launchers first. Later the militants opened fire with AK rifles on troops,” security sources said, adding that a convoy of three army vehicles was heading towards Margherita from Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang when the firing incident took place. “One vehicle managed to escape but two of them came under attack. They were later rescued by other troops,” security sources said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of police (SP), Tinsukia district, Gaurav Avijit Dilip in an official statement said, “Today around 8 am, unknown miscreants fired upon 3 Assam Rifle vehicles (31 Btln) at location around 700 m from Assam-Arunachal Border, while they were travelling from Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh to Margherita side in Assam. As per information from CO 31 AR, one Army Jawan is seriously injured and being taken to Hospital. Location falls under Margherita Police station.”
The Assam Rifles said they are suspecting that banned militant groups United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (Ulfa-I) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muiviah) were behind the attack.
Ulfa-I on Tuesday afternoon claimed responsibility for their involvement in the encounter, however, no official confirmation was available.
Ulfa-I in a press statement to local newspapers claimed that it was part of the “operation pratishodh” against the Indian Army and the Government of India. “They killed two of our members and were trying to forcibly occupy land on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. We have given them a proper answer by this attack,” it said.
It claimed that several army jawans were injured in this attack but the authorities are trying to hide it. “We have managed to injure multiple army jawans but the authorities are claiming that only one person was injured. They are airlifting the injured jawans, which is proof that many jawans were injured,” Ulfa-I claimed.
