Mistaken Target Kills 6 Tribal Workers Suspected Insurgents, Indian Police Charge 30 Soldiers

JAKARTA - Police in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland said 30 soldiers were charged with killing six tribal workers they thought were insurgents during an anti-insurgency operation last year.

"The investigation revealed that the operations team did not follow standard operating procedures and combat rules," Nagaland police chief TJ Longkumer said.

He added that military personnel had carried out "disproportionate firing." The police investigation comes after 13 members of the Konyak tribe, who make up the majority of the region's population and one policeman, were killed in December last year.

They died after defense forces stationed in the border country mistook the labor group for insurgents entering from Myanmar and opened fire.

Six coal miners died on their way home from work in Oting in Nagaland's Mon district. Seven others were shot dead when villagers, furious after finding the bullet-ridden bodies of the workers in a military truck, clashed with the soldiers. A security personnel was also killed in the clashes.

"Sanctions for prosecution are still being processed," Longkumer said, adding that an indictment had been filed against the 30 accused military personnel.

A spokesman for the Indian army could not immediately be reached for comment. A defense ministry official in New Delhi said the case had been submitted to an Indian court for a final decision.

Thousands of military personnel are stationed in the country's northeast, which is home to tribal groups in a complex network. Many of them have launched insurgency and separatist activities accusing New Delhi of plundering resources and improving their lives little.

In the immediate aftermath of the killings, protests mounted over the Armed Forces Forces Act (AFSPA) which gives the armed forces great powers of search and arrest, and opening fire in "troublesome areas" if deemed necessary. This law is still in effect in Mon.

The AFSPA "problem zone" notices have gone into effect in parts of the seven northeastern states.

Starting 2015, the federal government removed AFSPA entirely from the states of Tripura and Meghalaya, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.