A powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Nagaland’s Chumoukedima district resulted in the death of an Assam Rifles Havildar and injuries to four other personnel. Security forces have escalated search operations by deploying additional columns of the Assam Rifles and the Nagaland Police. The injured personnel are in stable condition and receiving treatment at a hospital.
Following the attack, a wreath-laying ceremony was held to honor the slain Havildar, Mohammad Iqbal, who belonged to the 28 Assam Rifles Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. The Director General of Assam Rifles, along with senior Army and Assam Rifles officers, attended the ceremony at the Assam Rifles Training Centre in Sukhovi, Chumoukedima district. The Havildar’s mortal remains are expected to be flown to his home state.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack as confirmed by a senior Nagaland Police official. The IED exploded after hitting a vehicle in an Assam Rifles convoy near Sukhovi, causing the casualties. The blast also injured a civilian and damaged an auto-rickshaw parked nearby.
Nagaland Governor Nand Kishore Yadav, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton, and Assam Rifles Director General Lt Gen Vikas Lakhera strongly condemned the attack and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. This incident follows a recent ambush in Manipur where two Assam Rifles personnel lost their lives.
