Army officer, kin among 7 killed in Manipur ambush

A commanding officer of the Assam Rifles, his wife and son, besides four personnel of the country’s oldest paramilitary were killed on Saturday in a welter of IED blasts and burst of gunfire in Manipur’s Churachandpur district, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.

Viplav Tripathi, the Commanding Officer of Khuga Battalion of Assam Rifles, a colonel rank officer, his family, and others died in an ambush, in fresh eruption of militant violence in the border state blamed on an insurgent outfit. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Manipur Naga People’s Front (MNPF) later claimed responsibility for the attack.