Army’s probe team to visit ambush site

THE TEAM WILL VISIT THE SITE OF THE DECEMBER 4 INCIDENT AS WELL AS TIZIT POLICE STATION

GUWAHATI: A team constituted to probe the killing of 13 civilians in an ambush by security forces earlier this month will visit Nagaland’s Mon district on Wednesday, the Army said.

The team will visit the site of the December 4 incident as well as Tizit police station between 1.30 pm and 3.00 pm on Wednesday. “The inquiry team solicits from the public at large any primary information (not forwarded or not from secondary source) pertaining to the incident. Any person having such information and desirous of deposing before the Inquiry is requested to do so at Tizit police station,” the Army said in a notice on Monday.

Any original information, photo or video (not forwarded or not from secondary source) pertaining to the incident may also be shared with the team via phone, SMS or Whatsapp Messenger at +916033924571, it added. “The information may also be shared in person to the inquiry team at Dinjan Military Station in Assam. The original documents, audio-visual recording will be collected from the source following due legal procedure.”

In a botched anti-insurgency operation on December 4, seven local coal miners at Tiru-oting area were killed by soldiers of 21 Para Special Forces of the Indian Army who mistook them as militants. Soon after the incident, angry villagers reached the spot and set ablaze two security vehicles, sparking off another round of firing by forces to “control the situation” in which at least six villagers and one soldier died.