Team News Riveting
New Delhi, December 6
Home Minister Amit Shah gave a statement in the Lok Sabha (LS) over Nagaland killings and said “The vehicle was signalled to stop but it tried to flee.”
“The government of India expresses deep regret over the unfortunate incident in Nagaland and also expresses deep sympathies to the bereaved families. Army had received information on the movement of extremists near Tiru, Mon,” Shah said.
On the basis of the tip off, one unit of Army’s 21 Para Commando laid an ambush in the suspected area. A vehicle reached there; it was signalled to stop but it tried to flee. On suspicion of carrying extremists, it was fired upon. 6 out of the 8 people in the vehicle died. It was later found to be a case of mistaken identity. 2 others who were injured were taken to nearest health centre by Army.
“After receiving news of this, local villagers surrounded the Army unit, set 2 vehicles on fire and attacked them,” Shah said adding that as a result, one jawan of the security forces died; many other jawans were injured. Security forces had to resort to firing for self-defence and to disperse the crowd. It resulted in the death of 7 more civilians, some others injured.
“After the incident, on December 5 evening, an agitated crowd of around 250 people vandalised the company operating base (COB) of Assam Rifles in Mon city and set the COB building on fire. Assam Rifles had to fire bullets to disperse the crowd. This caused death of one more civilian. SIT to probe Nagaland incident and has been asked to complete investigation within a month,” the Union Home Minister added.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has constituted a four-member committee headed by AICC General Secretary Jitendra Singh to visit Nagaland and submit a report on the incident.