NSCN (I-M) kills 10 policemen in Assam ambush

NSCN (I-M) kills 10 policemen in Assam ambush
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

GUWAHATI, SEPTEMBER 13: At least 10 policemen were killed and four, including an Additional Superintendent of Police, seriously injured when suspected NSCN (I-M) ultras ambushed a police convoy near Diphu in Assam's Karbi Anglong district today.The NSCN (I-M) struck within days of the Centre's rejection of the outfit's demand for extending the area of the cease-fire to all Naga areas of the region.

``There is strong indication that the NSCN masterminded the ambush, keeping in view its firepower and concentration in the area. The entire covoy has been destroyed,'' said a top official from Diphu, headquarters of the trouble-torn Karbi Anglong district.

The police convoy, comprising four vehicles, was returning from Barlangphar, about 20 km from violence-battered Diphu, after apprehending suspected extremists, when the NSCN (IM) militants sprayed it with bullets for more than 10 minutes from automatic weapons, killing all the policemen on the spot and critically injuring four.

Sources said it was the handiwork of the NSCN; its frontal militant organisation, United People's Democratic Solidarity, was active in the district.

The convoy was led by the ASP, who is now battling for his life at the Diphu civil hospital along with two constables and one civilian. The whereabouts of the detained militant, who was in the convoy, is not yet known. The militants walked up to the convoy after the firing and decamped with all the weapons and the walkie-talkie of the ASP.

This attack assumes significance because on September 11 the Centre's representative for the Naga talks, K Padmanabhiah, had informed NSCN Chairman Issak Swu that their demand for extending the cease-fire to all the Naga areas in the north-east could not be accepted.