Operations on to recover weapons

IMPHAL, January 17: After overrunning the police station at Jiribam from where all arms and ammunition were carted away, State forces have been trying to recover the weapons. In the ongoing operations, several persons including some reporters were roughed up. The harassment to the reporters is one of the reasons why the print media is boycotting the government news and functions since January 11. Meanwhile, a late report received here said that there was a fierce encounter between the armed insurgents and personnel of the 12 Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) deployed at the railway station of this border sub-division neighbouring Assam on Monday mid-night. Report further said that the insurgents whose identity and party affiliation were not yet known, had opened fire at the camp of the IRB personnel. The sentry and other personnel of the post also returned the fire during the incident. The heavy exchange of fire continued for almost one hour. As it was already late, most of the personnel had gone to bed. During the one-hour exchange of fire, there was no casualty among the IRB personnel. Besides, it is not known if the insurgents had sustained any casualty during the incident.