A combined team of the Army and the Assam Rifles nabbed two activists of the Kuki National Liberation Army following an encounter in Imphal east district on Wednesday and Thursday, official sources said. Some tribal militants had ambushed a police commando team on Tuesday in Noney district. One police commando driver was hit in the abdomen.
The combined team of 21 Para and 16 Assam Rifles camped in Chandrakhong in the Imphal east district launched the operation on Wednesday morning on receipt of intelligence that some armed persons were sighted nearby. They saw some persons moving in the nearby mountains armed with automatic rifles, police said. They reportedly ignored the warning of the army personnel to surrender leading to the encounter.
The tribal militants fled as reinforcements rushed but some of them sustained injuries. On Thursday morning, the combined team combed the nearby villages and sources said two cadres of the KNLA were rounded up. They were identified as K. Kipgen of Kangpokpi district and L. Haokip of Churachandpur district.
Haokip had a bullet injury in his leg. One of them was also reportedly involved in the firing on civilians in February. The arrested militants were handed over to the police for legal actions.
