Imphal, September 20:

At least 21 people, including 14 soldiers, were killed in separate overnight encounters in India’s restive Manipur state, officials said today. In the first incident, heavily armed militants ambushed a security patrol of the Gorkha Rifles near Nariang village, about 35 km from here, late yesterday. “Unidentified rebels using automatic weapons ambushed a road patrol of the army’s Gorkha Rifles, killing eight on the spot,” an Indian Army spokesperson said. Twelve more soldiers were wounded, of whom six died on way to hospital.

The condition of the injured is stated to be critical. “The 20 odd rebels equipped with AK-56 rifles and carbines launched the attack from a hilltop. There was hardly any time for the soldiers to retaliate,” the spokesperson said. At least three rebel groups fighting for independent homelands for the majority Meitei community in Manipur operate in the area. A massive hunt is on in the area with columns of army and paramilitary troopers combing a thickly forested area. The identity of the rebels is not immediately known and no militant group has claimed responsibility for the ambush as yet. In the second incident, rebels belonging to the outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF) killed an army soldier near Jiribam, Manipur’s border town with Assam state.

In a third incident, six tribal militants were killed in a faction fight between two groups in Churachandpur district. “There was a massive clash between the Zomi Revolutionary Army and the Zomi Revolutionary Front over territorial supremacy. In the ensuing gun battle, six rebels were killed and another was wounded,” police official A Singh said. There is a score of rebel groups in Manipur, bordering Myanmar, with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the right to self-determination.