Imphal/Guwahati, Jan. 24: Two Manipur ministers and a deputy inspector-general of police survived an ambush by suspected Kuki rebels in Thoubal district while the Ulfa claimed to have killed nearly 15 CRPF jawans in Assam?s Barpeta district today.
Assam director-general of police Hare Krishna Deka dismissed the Ulfa claim, saying a lone CRPF jawan died in an encounter while a militant was killed in the gunbattle.
Manipur DGP S. Bimolchandra Singh told The Telegraph that the minister of state for social welfare D.K. Korungthang and minister of state for agriculture K. Ranjit Singh (both with independent charge) were ambushed by militants armed with sophisticated weapons at Thingkhangphei in Chandel district around noon today.
BSF troops despatched as reinforcements detected and defused two powerful improvised explosive devices planted by the attackers on the Imphal-Serou road. This was in the vicinity of the route taken by the ministers? convoy. The ministers and a senior police official were escorted back to Imphal safely late in the evening.
The ministers, accompanied by a security team led by deputy inspector-general of police (range-II) V. Zathang, were on their way to a function. Near Thingkhangphei, there was an encounter between the securitymen and militants but there was no casualty.
BSF deputy inspector-general (Manipur and Nagaland) P.K. Mishra said the BSF troops from Sugnu post defused two powerful remote-controlled bombs planted by militants when the jawans were on their way to the ambush site.
?The militants fired at the ministers? convoy from a distance. The attackers also abducted the two ministers. The BSF troops rescued the ministers, who were immediately taken to the Sugnu BSF posts. From there, they returned to Imphal,? Mishra said, adding that the attackers belong to a small Kuki militant group.
The police, however, said the ministers were not abducted.
In Guwahati, a person claiming to be Ulfa ?commander-in-chief? Paresh Barua called up the offices of The Telegraph and claimed that ?15 to 20 CRPF personnel were killed in the ambush laid by our freedom-fighters? in Barpeta district.
The police said a CRPF jawan was killed in the encounter with Ulfa guerrillas at Bhuyanpara in Barpeta district this afternoon.
In Tinsukia district, the police and CRPF today apprehended nine persons in a joint raid at an Ulfa hideout in Ajukha village under Dhola police station. The Ulfa had attacked an army camp at Daisajan in Tinsukia district on Monday. The team recovered a diary, 20 blankets and 62 rounds of AK-47 ammunition.
The police had arrested Ajoy Gupta alias Ajit Baruah from Margherita, suspected to be the mastermind behind the Daisajan attack.
In another haul, 55 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the Assam State Zoo premises in Guwahati this evening. The consignment, comprising 27 rounds of AK-47, 26 rounds of 9 mm pistol and two of US carbine, were dug up from the eastern corner of the zoo. City police sources said there might have been more consignments in the zoo premises which might have been taken away earlier.