Five soldiers injured in militant ambush near Manipur border

Imphal, Nov 26 (IANS) At least five personnel of Para Special Force deployed along the Manipur-Myanmar border sustained life threatening injuries when militants ambushed a patrol party at Sajik Tampak at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

The wounded soldiers were airlifted to the military hospital at Leimakhong army headquarters near Imphal.

Sources told IANS that the soldiers were patrolling in the interior areas of Chandel district located along the international border when one remote controlled bomb detonated. The militants also opened fire from automatic rifles while the soldiers retaliated.

Later the militants are believed to have escaped across the border. Reinforcements have been rushed for launching combing operations in the area.

There has been no claim about the attack from any underground organisation.

For a long time Sajik Tampak had been the general headquarters of several insurgent groups but eventually, security forces pushed them back and opened a camp. It was an ideal strategic area since approaching security forces could be sighted from a distance and the insurgents could escape across the border if they were pushed too hard.