The north-east is back in the news. Once again for all the wrong reasons. The death of 18 soldiers in what is easily the single biggest ambush on the Indian Army in the north-east in the past decade, has brought attention right back on the insurgent groups in the region.
This was the third major attack on the Army and the Assam Rifles (a para military force led by Army officers) recently. On April 2, a convoy of the 4 Rajput battalion was attacked by suspected NSCN-K cadres at Khonsa in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh. Four soldiers were killed and many others were injured. Exactly a month later, the NSCN-K struck again in Nagaland's Mon district, killing 8 Assam Rifles soldiers. Thursday's attack however was the biggest in the past two decades in terms of number of casualties.
The attack on an administrative convoy of the 6 Dogra battalion, at Moltuk in Manipur's Chandel district, barely 15 km from the Myanmar border, has several implications for the region and the Army itself.
Whether the usual road opening drill - sanitising the route that the convoy takes - was done according to the standard operating procedure will be one of the first aspects that will be looked into. That the insurgents could fire an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) at the lead vehicle in the convoy after triggering an IED (improvised Explosive Device) indicates that the insurgents were lying in wait for some time along the route that the convoy was to take.
Thursday's incident will surely lead to the Army taking immediate corrective measures and seeking strict compliance from its units.
The NSCN-K had recently walked out of a 15-year-old ceasefire agreement with the Centre and has since taken a lead in uniting disparate insurgent groups under a new name - the United Nationalist Liberation Front of West South-East Asia.
(Nitin Gokhale is a well-known defence and strategic affairs analyst, author and media trainer.)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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