Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
Tributes poured in as the three Assam Rifles personnel who were killed in an ambush by suspected terrorists of the local insurgent group People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near the India-Myanmar border at the Chandel area in Manipur on the night of Wednesday, 29 July, were laid to rest with full military honour.
The deceased have been identified as Havildar Pranay Kalita, Rifleman YM Konyak, and Rifleman Ratan Salim. Five other soldiers who sustained injuries in the ambush were rushed to the military hospital.
A wreath-laying ceremony with full military honours was organised at Tulihal Airport in Imphal on 31 July 2020. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh attended the ceremony and paid his respects to the soldiers.
The bodies of the soldiers were then flown to their respective hometowns. Ghatbar village in Assam's Barpeta district mourned the death of their son of soil. Late Havildar Kalita, 38, had joined in the Assam Rifles in 2001. He had last visited his hometown earlier this year in January. His grief-stricken neighbours remember him as a kind-hearted person. He is survived by his parents, his wife and two young daughters.
What Unfolded At Chandel, Manipur
A senior government officer told news agency IANS that a group of 15 soldiers was returning from an area dominance patrol at Khongtal in Chandel when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded. Thereafter, they came under heavy fire from the terrorists.
“On 29 July, 2020, an area domination patrol in Khongtal, Chandel dist, Manipur. At 18:45 hrs the patrol party got ambushed on their way back,” said a senior government officer.
The incident happened about three kilometres from the India-Myanmar border. They were returning to their post after three days of operation along the international border.
“The local administration and intelligence agencies are working to identify the insurgent group which carried out the attack on the patrolling party,” a senior government officer told IANS.
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