GUWAHATI: Ten policemen were killed when militants ambushed the vehicles of the Nagaland Speaker Thenucho and his escort party at Lahorijan in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district Wednesday.
Thenucho who sustained three bullet injuries on his-right arm was rushed to hospital in Dimapur.
According to police sources the Speaker’s entourage which was travelling from Kohima to Mon district was totally caught unawares by the armed militants suspected to be those of the outlawed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). The militants fired from light machine guns which instantly killed 10 jawans of the Nagaland police.
Suspected NSCN militant had gunned down at least five Assam Rifles Jawans in another ambush in Manipur’s Ukhrul Tuesday night.
The decision of the militant to plan a major strike Wednesday is significant because the NSCN is known to observe August 14 as the “Naga independence day.
Information from the site of action at Lahorijan which falls under the Bokajan police station near the Assam Nagaland border has been trickling in slowly because of the total breakdown of communication channels in Karbi Anglong district where a bandh is being observed.
The Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia who left for New Delhi has been kept informed of the incident. Security forces throughout the north-cast have been put on maximum alert Meanwhile a Congress worker Cheniram Hazarika was gunned down by militants near Gohpur in Sonitpur district Wednesday while a suspected militant was reported to have escaped from a jail in Assam in an action-filled day.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 23, 1991
