• PRO, IGAR (North) claims security forces fired upon by armed cadres
• Police say security forces fired after hearing gun shot by a hunter
Morung Express News
Mon | June 21
A reported exchange of gun fire between the security forces and ‘militants’ in Mon district on Tuesday evening, which was widely reported in the national media, has emerged to be reportedly a case of firing in “confusion and panic.”
According to an IANS report, the exchange of fire took place in Choknyu village near Tapi bridge, when suspected NSCN (K) and United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) militants fired at the para commandos.
"The gunfight lasted for an hour and suspected NSCN-K and ULFA-I militants retreated back to the jungles after intensive firing from the para commandos," IANS quoted a Nagaland police official as stating.
The IANS report while quoting intelligence officials claimed that the “militants had sneaked into Nagaland from Myanmar to create terror.”
However police officials from Mon district said the security forces (12-para unit), who were patrolling the Mon-Aboi road near the Tapi bridge fired after hearing a gun shot from a hunter. The incident occurred between 9:30 to 10:00pm on Tuesday night at Tapi Bridge area between Totok Chingnyu and Totok Chingkho village.
The Mon police team who went to the spot where the reported firing took place verified that a construction worker engaged in the Tapi bridge construction had gone hunting in the night and had fired his gun, a 12 bore, at a wild cat.
Just after he fired the gun, the security forces patrolling in the nearby area started firing, it is learnt. Around the same time, a gypsy with five civilians who were on their way to Totok Chingnyu village and crossing the Tapi Bridge were also caught in midst of the firing.
The five civilians, who hail from Totok Chingnyu village, scrambled out of the vehicle and ran for shelter, Mon police who interviewed the villagers reported. Fortunately, the construction worker and the villagers were not injured during the firing, the police informed.
Police clarifies social media reports
Also contradicting the report on social media, that the construction worker was assaulted by the security forces, the police said he was not beaten up or assaulted as was being claimed.
The Additional Superintendent of Police, Mon told The Morung Express that “as far as our report on the incident, the involvement of the Naga underground have been ruled out.”
Meanwhile, the PRO, IGAR (North) Assam Rifles, Kohima in a press note also claimed that security forces were fired upon by a few armed cadres approaching Totok Chingnyu around 9:30 pm on June 20. It did not specify which group the armed cadres belonged to.
The press note from the PRO said the security forces retaliated whereupon which the “Naga undergrounds” fled towards the jungle. Search operations were conducted and called off in the morning on June 21, 2017, it added.
