An Army jawan sustained serious injuries after suspected militants with rocket launchers and AK rifles attacked a convoy that included Assam Rifles and Indian Army personnel in Assam’s Tinsukia district near Arunachal Pradesh border on Tuesday morning, officials said.
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, officials added.
According to Assam Rifles officials, the incident happened at around 8am at Namdang area under Margherita Police Station. “The troop had around 25 jawans and they were attacked with rocket launchers first. Later the attackers used rifles against the army troops,” said an official.
Police said that three army vehicles were heading towards Margherita from Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang when the firing incident took place. “One vehicle managed to escape to a safe spot but two of them got stuck in the area. They were later rescued by other troops,” the official said.
Superintendent of police (SP), Tinsukia district, Gaurav Avijit Dilip in an official statement said, “Today around 8am, unknown miscreants fired upon 3 Assam Rifle vehicles (31 Btln) at location around 700m from Assam-Arunachal Border, while they were travelling from Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh to Margherita side 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 said that it was part of their “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 wrote.
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