Six Assam Police Personnel Killed In Border Clash With Mizoram; Both States Seek Centre's Intervention

At least six Assam police personnel were killed on Monday (26 July) in the border troubles with Mizoram, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Sarma, who also holds the Home Department portfolio, in a tweet said: "I am deeply pained to inform that six brave jawans of Assam Police have sacrificed their lives while defending constitutional boundary of our state at the Assam-Mizoram border. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families."

An Assam police official said that while the district and police officials were dealing with the border troubles and discussing the unauthorized constructions on the Assam side, there was unprovoked firing injuring many security personnel and killing the six policemen on the spot.

The Assam-Mizoram border troubles flared up on Monday with at least 20 officials and civilians injured and vehicles damaged in clashes as both Chief Ministers sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah's urgent intervention. Officials of both states, including Cachar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Keerthi Jalli and Superintendent of Police (SP) Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant are camping in the trouble-torn Lailapur area in Assam's Cachar district, which borders Mizoram's Kolasib, as they try to calm the volatile situation.

Assam officials claimed that a large number of people from Mizoram attacked them, injuring 16, six km inside the state, while Mizoram officials claimed that people from Assam damaged a vehicle in which a Mizo couple was travelling to the state.

There were reports that there was some firing too but officials did not confirm it.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga, in a series of tweets, sought to blame each other's officials for the violence, while calling on Amit Shah to urgently intervene to control the situation.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)