JOIN USTwo civilians were shot dead by the Army late on Wednesday night in the insurgency-hit Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
The Army on Thursday owned up the incident saying that soldiers were on the lookout for militants and mistook the civilians for insurgents.
Garo Hills have been brewing in discontentment over the tragic incident. According to Meghalaya Police sources, two people identified as Sweetbirth D Marak (30) and Alphius Momin (35) were shot dead near Konchikol, a remote Rajasimla in East Garo Hills around 8:40 pm. Momin was a teacher in a local school.
Initially, the police thought that the two civilians were killed by suspected militants, but on Thursday morning it became evident that they were gunned down by Army troopers who were patrolling the area.
The Army, through a press statement, admitted that its troopers did kill two civilians while carrying out counter-insurgency operations in Kharkutta Area.
“This incident primarily occurred due to non-adherence of existing security instructions by the motorcycle borne civilians... In this particular instance, the troops were actively dominating the area in the form of an Area Domination Patrol when the incident happened,” said Guwahati-based defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneet Newton.
The Army added that on specific information about the movement of two Garo National Liberation Army militants on a motorcycle, between Kharkuta and Khilor, troops established a checkpost immediately to nab them.
“Initially, two motorcycles (bearing registration number ML 07A 9882 and AS 18A 75), both having two persons each (aged 20-25 years) were signalled to stop. Both the motorcycles stopped and were checked in detail. They left when nothing suspicious was found. At approximately 8:40 pm, the third motorcyclists, when signalled to stop accelerated their bike and tried to escape. Due to the huge back blast and flash which came out of the silencer and due to the prevailing pitch darkness, it seemed that the motorcyclists had opened fire. The troops opened fire in self defence,” the Army claimed.
The two civilians died on the spot. The Army has instituted an internal inquiry, sources said.