Somewhere in Manipur....

At least 20 soldiers were killed and over a dozen injured in a well planned and clinically-executed militant ambush in Chandel district of Manipur, in the deadliest such blow to the Army in over three decades. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemning the terror attack as “mindless“ and “very distressing“, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, home minister Rajnath Singh, national security advisor Ajit Doval, army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and others went into a huddle to review the situation.
An immediate outcome was the order given to the army to launch “all-out search and destroy“ operations against militant hideouts in the jungles along the Indo-Myanmar border and the hinterland in Manipur, said sources.
The chilling ambush rudely brought the Indian security establishment's focus back to the northeast, which is often neglected due to its geographical distance from New Delhi --as compared to terrorism hit Kashmir--despite its long porous borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.
It also put the spotlight on the sudden escalation in violence in the region ever since Naga militant outfit NSCN (K) pulled out of the 14-yearold ceasefire with New Delhi in March. In two ambushes soon after the March development, 11 Army and Assam Rifles jawans were killed in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland on April 2 and May 3. Experts, in fact, fear the uneasy truce in the region--largely the result of the ceasefire agreements signed between the Centre and several insurgent outfits over the years--seems to be now unravelling.
It was around 8.15 am that the convoy of 6 Dogra Regiment was ambushed near Paraolong village in southeast Manipur, near the Myanmar border.IED blasts first ripped apart the army trucks. Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy automatic fire then targeted the soldiers from a hillock.
One junior commissioned officer and 19 soldiers were killed on the spot, while over a dozen were later evacuated to the Leimakhong military hospital by helicopters after a major operation was mounted to “sanitize“ the ambush site.
The army battalion had probably let down its guard since it was in the process of being de-inducted from the Moltuk Valley after completing its tenure there.
Initial assessment by the central security establishment suspected the handiwork of Manipuri Meiti insurgent groups like the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), working in close conjunction with NSCN (K). The newly-floated common platform of the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia--which includes NSCN (K), Ulfa (I), Kamatapur Liberation Organization and NDFB (Songbijit) -also promptly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ulfa (I) leader Paresh Baruah, in fact, also called up some local television channels to claim NSCN (K) chief and front chairman S S Khaplang had ordered the hit. With the Narendra Modi government ordering an “all-out offensive“ against the militant outfits, violence is likely to escalate in the region.
Comparisons were, in fact, being drawn with a similar ambush dating back to February 1982 when 20 jawans of 21 Sikh and one civilian were killed at Namthilok between Imphal and Ukhrul, which led to reaction and counter-reaction fuelling militancy for years to come.