Myanmar army accidentally enters Indian area

AIZAWL, August 8: The Myanmar Army accidentally entered 300 metres inside Indian territory last week while chasing a group of rebels, two of whom were later killed, authoritative intelligence sources here claimed. Eight days back in Mizoram's Chhimtuipui district at the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh trijunction, a Myanmar Army patrol, while chasing a group of Arakan Muslim rebels, entered about 300 metres inside the Indian territory. In the subsequent encounter, two of the rebels were killed, senior officials of a central security agency in the state said. The Arakanese are an ethnic group in Myanmar, considered close to Bangladesh. According to the officials, the rebels had kidnapped and later killed a local trader in Arakan state, who, they claimed, was also an informer of the Myanmar Army. The Myanmar Army retaliated and accidentally entered Indian territory, which is not so well-defined in area, officials said. The violation could not be detected immediately as the local BSF post was some 36 km away.