Two jawans of the Assam Rifles received bullet injuries during a gunfight with suspected NSCN-KYA militants in Nagaland's Mon district on Monday.
The two injured jawans were evacuated to the Air Force Hospital in Jorhat in neighbouring Assam. The condition of one of the jawans was said to be critical.
The Army said in a statement that the incident took place at Nyasa area in Mon district in the wee hours of Monday, where the army team was carrying out a patrol to prevent violence by militants during Independence Day celebrations.
"Based on credible intelligence of movement of underground cadres, troops of Assam Rifles laid multiple ambushes to dominate the area. At around 2.35am on August 15, the alert scouts noticed suspicious movement of insurgents on a jungle track coming from Zankham to Nyasa. On being challenged by their own troops, they opened fire which was appropriately retaliated causing severe casualties to the group. Two Assam Rifles soldiers also sustained injuries," said the statement issued by defence spokesperson based at Kohima, Lt Col Sumit K Sharma.
The statement, however, did not provide details on the casualties suffered by the militant group.
One JCO of Assam Rifles was similarly injured on August 9 in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang district.
On November 24 last year, 14 civilians were killed by the Army during a botched operation carried out based on information about the movement of insurgents in Mon district. The incident triggered strong protests not only in Nagaland but the rest of the Northeast.