IMPHAL, May 24 - The mortal remains of the six Assam Rifles personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, who were killed in an ambush near Hengshi, a remote village in Manipur�s Chandel district bordering Myanmar on Sunday, have been flown to their native places following floral tributes were paid to the departed souls today.
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, GOC 3 Corps Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, GOC 57th Mountain Division, Major General SS Mishra, DGP Manipur, officers of Assam Rifles also attended the wreath laying ceremony.
The Chief Minister, speaking to media-persons soon after the ceremony, said the incident should be condemned at the strongest term.
The mortal remains of the deceased soldiers � Subedar Baldev Kumar Sharma, Rifleman Bhupender Kumar Una, Riflemen Pawan Kumar, Mahesh Gurung, Akhilesh Kumar Pandey and Surjit Barla �were later airlifted from Imphal International Airport by two Indian Air Force aircraft for their respective native places.
PTI add: �In counter-insurgency operation it is a matter of initiative and opportunity. They have been able to get this opportunity but it is not long before we hit back and we will hit back very hard,� Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, General Officer Commanding of 3 Corps, told reporters here. The Army and Assam Rifles have been continuously running an intensive combing operation to trace the militants in the deep jungles near Indo-Myanmar border, where the incident happened on Sunday afternoon.
Refusing to divulge details of the operations before the media, Krishna said the search was on in the jungles.
