Army ready to crack down on NE militants

The army is ready to launch a massive crackdown on northeast militants groups in Manipur and Nagaland along the Indo-Myanmar border .

Chief of Army Staff Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday visited Imphal and conducted an aerial survey of the Indo-Myanmar border in Chandel district, where six Assam Rifles troopers were killed by the militants. The army chief was accompanied by Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, chief of the eastern commander.

The Assam Rifles has already intensified operations in the state. However, an army patrol team came under heavy fire in the early hours on Wednesday along the Myanmar border, but there was no casualty, army sources told DH.

Joupi, the site of the ambush where six Assam Rifles troopers died last week, is around 30 km from Paraolon, where militants killed 18 soldiers of 6 Dogra Regiment in an ambush on June 4 last year.

In retaliation, the army’s special forces carried out surgical strikes on the militant groups’ hideouts.

Sources said the army will launch a well planned crackdown to flush out militants from Chandel district, the transit point for militants between India and Myanmar.