Guwahati:

After a brief spell of calm, suspected militants have once again targeted security forces in Northeast India. Troops of the Assam Rifles came under attack on Sunday morning in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Myanmar. One personnel was killed and another injured in the ambush by suspected militants around 9:40 am, the police said.

The incident took place at Tengmo village under Jairampur police station of Changlang district, around 300 km from capital Itanagar. The area is close to Hetlong Village of Monmao.

“The incident took place on Sunday morning. One security forces jawan was martyred. Another one is injured. A massive combing operation is on in the area and we have also intensified counter insurgency operations as well,” said the police chief of Changlang district told NDTV.

According to military intelligence sources, a group of 30 to 35 militants of the Paresh Barua-led independent faction of the ULFA along with cadres of NSCN (Khaplang) faction were behind the ambush since these two militant groups have been active in the area apart from NSCN (IM).

The militants laid an ambush and when they saw an approaching water tanker of the Assam rifles in their range, they fired grenades and sprayed it with bullets from automatic weapons. One Assam Rifles jawan died from his injuries while another was injured, intelligence sources added.

On July 11, security forces gunned down at least six insurgents suspected to be members of the Naga underground group NSCN (IM) in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Myanmar.

Three districts of Arunachal Pradesh – Tirap, Longding and Changlang, which share porous borders with Myanmar, have long been under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA, which gives sweeping powers to security forces including shoot-to-kill.

These areas have not only been a transit routes but also sectors of operation for several banned militant groups of Assam and Nagaland.

Last year, in a gruesome ambush, the then MLA from Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh Triong Aboh and 10 others were killed.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last month announced a cash reward for two wanted accused, belonging to the NSCN-(IM ) – Apem and Absolon Thangkul – two top commanders of the group which has been involved in peace talks with the centre since 1997.

All the banned militant groups still have hideouts in Myanmar and use the borders to sneak in to carry out attacks on security forces.