14 Civilians Suspected As Rebels Shot Dead, Protesters Attack Indian Troop Camp

Illustration of protesters in India setting fires. (Wikimedia Commons/Mfi.media)

JAKARTA - Protesters hurled stones and burned the area around a camp belonging to Indian troops in the remote northeast, with one civilian shot dead in fresh violence a day after 14 people were killed by defense forces, officials said.

At least 14 civilians and a member of the security forces were killed in Nagaland state on Saturday night, after Indian troops mistook a group of workers for militants and opened fire.

More than a dozen civilians and several members of the security forces were also injured in the incident and the violence that followed, a New Delhi-based federal defense ministry official said.

India's Home Minister Amit Shah said he was saddened to hear the news of civilians, who belonged to a local tribal group, being killed.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio told Reuters as quoted December 6, an investigation would be carried out and the guilty be punished. He said the incident was the result of an intelligence failure.

India's northeast is home to a complex network of tribal groups, many of whom have launched an insurgency, accusing New Delhi of plundering resources and doing little to improve their lives.

People in Nagaland often accuse security forces of mistargeting innocent locals in their counter-insurgency operations against insurgent groups.

On Sunday, civilians staged a protest against the government in the Mon District of Nagaland, in which 14 local tribals were killed.

"There was a mob outside throwing stones," said a security official who asked not to be named from the camp, which was surrounded by protesters.

"One civilian was shot dead and two more injured in a shooting by the Assam Rifles some time ago in Mon City," said Noklem Konyak, president of the Konyak Students' Union by telephone.

Illustration of the Assam Rifles troops. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense)

The Konya are the dominant tribe in the Mon District. Meanwhile, Indian military and government officials were not immediately available for comment on the latest killings.

Saturday's incident took place in and around Oting Village, Mon District bordering Myanmar, during a counter-insurgency operation carried out by members of the Assam Rifles, the country's oldest paramilitary force, said a senior Nagaland-based police official.

The shooting started when a truck carrying 30 or more coal miners drove past the Assam Rifles camp.

"The troops had intelligence input about some militant movements in the area. When they saw the truck, they mistook the miners for rebels and opened fire which killed six workers," a senior police official told Reuters, asking not to be named.

"After news of the shooting spread in the village, hundreds of tribal people surrounded the camp. They set fire to Assam Rifles vehicles and clashed with police using homemade weapons," he said.

Members of the Assam Rifles retaliated, in a second attack eight civilians and a member of the security forces were killed, the official said.

The Naga Mothers' Association (NMA), an influential rights group in Nagaland, appealed to all Naga tribes to mourn the loss of civilian life, demanding that the Indian army canton be removed from civilian areas.

"Let the world know our grief and sorrow and may our voices of protest be heard against the continued militarization and killings under the Armed Forces Forces Act," said Abeiu Meru, president of the NMA.

The law gives the armed forces great powers to search and arrest, and open fire if they deem it necessary to maintain public order in parts of the country that they declare as "disturbed areas".

Parts of Nagaland were given the designation by the federal government last year. Police and local government officials have increased vigilance and patrolled across the state's border ahead of final ceremonies for the dead scheduled for Monday.

It is worth noting that in recent years India has tried to persuade Myanmar to expel insurgents from bases in dense jungle in the unfenced region, which borders Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.