Manipur attack: Tributes paid to fallen soldiers, bodies to be flown back to hometowns today

Imphal: Two days after eighteen Indian Army soldiers were killed in an audacious ambush in Manipur's Chandel district, a wreath-laying ceremony was held in the state capital on Saturday to pay tributes to the martyred.

The Armymen were killed in the ambush on Thursday carried out by National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang along with the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP).

Thursday's attack was the worst in 30 years that also injured 11 soldiers.

The militants, said to number around 50, reportedly came in from their camps in Myanmar and returned after the massacre.

The mortal remains of the martyrs are expected to be flown to their native hometowns from Imphal today.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh directed that no militant involved in the attack should be allowed to go scot free and strongest possible action should be taken against all those involved in the ambush.

The security forces have intensified a massive combing operation at Chandel district in Manipur to track down the militants involved in the ambush on the Army convoy.

The central government took the incident very seriously and directed that all installations of the security forces in Manipur and Nagaland be put on high alert to foil any attempt by the militants to strike again.

Army officials said the militants used rocket-propelled grenades and detonated an IED to attack the Army convoy besides firing indiscriminately with sophisticated weapons.

There has lately been a surge in such attacks in northeastern states like Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, particularly after the NSCN-K abrogated its ceasefire pact with the Indian government in March.

On April 2, three soldiers were killed in an ambush by the NSCN-K in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district.

On May 3, seven Assam Rifles troopers and a Territorial Army soldier were killed in another ambush in Nagaland's Mon district by the newly-floated United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia comprising the NSCN-K, ULFA, Kamatapur Liberation Organisation and NDFB-Songbijit.