New Delhi
The Army today inflicted ‘heavy casualties’ on insurgents belonging to the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K). The Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command said the Army carried out ‘retaliatory’ fire along the Myanmar border in the wee hours and that the troops suffered no casualties.

The Eastern Command said a column of the Indian Army operating along the Myanmar border was fired upon by unidentified insurgents of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) around 4.45 am.

“Own troops reacted swiftly and brought down heavy retaliatory fire. The insurgents broke contact and fled. As per inputs, a large number of casualties were suffered by the insurgents. Own troops suffered no casualties,” the statement read, claiming the troops “did not cross the international border”.

While Army sources maintained it was “not a surgical strike”, the Eastern Command tweeted that reports of casualties to the Army personnel were “factually incorrect”.

Earlier this month, an insurgent of the SS Khaplang faction of the banned NSCN was killed as the Army’s special forces launched an operation in eastern Arunachal Pradesh to choke transit routes to militants from the Northeast, operating from Myanmar.

A Facebook post by Isak Sumi, on the ‘Most Wanted List’ of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), said the encounter occurred on the outskirts of Langkhu village in Myanmar-occupied Naga area, 10-15 km from the border. He claimed “three Indian soldiers were killed”.