IMPHAL, June 19 – Militants belonging to the United National Liberation Front ambushed an Army post leading to heavy exchange of fire between the two sides at the border village of Sajik Tampak in Manipur’s Chandel district where troops are carrying out a special operation to flush out the ultras, reports PTI. A group of UNLF insurgents ambushed an Army post at Karong Sanlup area near Sajik Tampak village, 109 km from here, last night, official sources said.
Casualties, if any, on both sides were not immediately known, official reports said. The gunbattle lasted for about an hour and Army personnel were still combing the nearby areas to flush out the insurgents, the reports said. Reports said the Army had recently opened several posts to flush out insurgents from Sajik Tampak area where insurgent organisations particularly separatist Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF) had set up their base camps.
A caller, who identified himself as a spokesman of the UNLF, told local media that the attack on the Army post was executed by their armed wing. He said the activists who took part in the attack had returned to their camps safely. UNLF is one of the constituents of MPLF which has been fighting for an ‘independent Manipur’ for more than four decades, official sources said.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAk) are other partners of the major separatist group. The Army had taken up positions at Sajik Tampak area and surrounding villages to drive out insurgents from interior and inacessible areas on Manipur-Myanmar border.