NEW DELHI: In a botched operation, Army para commandos lying in wait for militants in Nagaland’s Mon district late on Saturday shot and killed six villagers instead, all of them coal mine workers returning home in a van singing songs. Soon after, a village search party found the bodies and attacked soldiers, leading to firing in which seven more civilians died. A soldier was also killed.
On Sunday, another civilian was killed in Mon, dominated by the Konyak tribe, when security forces repelled a mob attack on an Assam Rifles camp. It was one among several incidents of arson and rioting in the district since the previous night. At least 20 people were injured in the ambush and the violence that followed.
Army officials said the operation was planned following specific inputs about the movements of militants from Yung Aung faction of the proscribed NSC.
Army ‘deeply regrets’ deaths, initiates inquiry
The commando team deployed at a site between Tiru and Oting, about 100km from the Myanmar border, apparently mistook the coal mine workers for their targets in the dark and started firing.
Not long after, a civilian search party from Oting set out to find the mine workers who hadn’t returned home at the usual time, only to find their bodies piled up in an Army vehicle, sources said. The mob reprisal that followed led to a second round of firing by the soldiers, resulting in seven more civilian deaths and injuries to many. Besides the one casualty on the Army’s side, several were injured by villagers armed with sharp weapons, officials said.
Some of the injured have been shifted to hospitals in neighbouring Assam.
The Army on Sunday “deeply regretted” the civilian deaths, all of them residents of Oting, and instituted a court of inquiry into the circumstances that led to the tragic outcome of what was to be an operation targeting militants. “Action will be taken as per course of law,” the Army’s Nagaland based 3 Corps headquarters said on Sunday.
Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, who was in Delhi when Nagaland erupted, returned to the state on Sunday and is scheduled to visit Mon on Monday. Deputy chief minister Y Patton, who is from BJP, said the state had separately ordered an inquiry by a five-member special investigation team.
Unfortunate incident in Nagaland’s Oting, Mon. I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives. A high level SIT constituted by the state govt will thoroughly probe this incident to ensure justice to the bereaved families,” Union home minister Amit Shah tweeted later.
Naga organisations across the state, where the NSCN (I-M) and a clutch of other tribal bodies are engaged in peace talks with the Centre to end decades of insurgency, organised protests and candlelight vigils for the victims.
The Lotha Hoho declared any movement of Army personnel, convoys or patrol in Wokha district from Monday would be taken as “defiance of human rights”. Several tribal groups pulled out of the ongoing 10-day Hornbill Festival organised by the state government.
Internet and texting services were suspended in Mon district on Monday to prevent rumours from beingspread.
