'Wanted' KIA chief leads raid an SoO camp
Source: The Sangai Express / Kaimuanthang Mangte
Churachandpur, April 09 2023:
A raiding party of Kuki Independent Army (KIA) led by one self-styled commander in-chief (C-in-C) Thangkhongam Haokip alias Davidson, who has been recently declared as 'wanted' along with 14 others attacked Horeb Camp near Chongkhozou village under Henglep sub-division, on Saturday and looted large cache of arms and ammunition.
According to police report, the lone sentry of the camp informed that the incident happened around 7:30 pm on Saturday when he was overpowered and his gun snatched away by about 15 people dressed in camouflage, who had raided the camp.
There were three others in the barrack who were also roughed up and tied using cloths and made them immobile, the sentry stated.
The sentry also mentioned that the intruders then broke open the armoury and looted arms, magazines and ammunition including one SLR with two rounds, one 7.62 mm pistol with one magazine & one round; two 0.32 pistols with one magazine & two rounds, one 9 mm pistol with one round, 0.65 pistol with one round, 9 mm country-made pistol with one round, one AK 47 with 101 rounds and two lathode bombs, all belonging to UTLA; three AK 56 with two magazines & 37 rounds, two M16 magazines with 420 rounds, 14 ladies carbine rounds, one carbine magazine, one .303 rifle, one 7.62 pistol with one magazine & four rounds, all belonging to KNF-Z; two carbine magazines with 32 rounds, 12 SBBL rounds, 126 7.62 mm rounds, one telescopic sight, all belonging to USRA; and one SLR with one magazine & one 7.62 mm pistol with one magazine and three rounds kept for camp protection.
The raiders left one of their own country-made single barrel defective gun, which has been seized, but took all the mobile phones of the four people present for the camp security.
After the attack, they fled under the darkness and for a long time the four people present at the camp for security could not free themselves.
Somehow one person managed to untie himself and then helped others.
One of them then went to the nearby Chongkhozou village which is about 2 km away from the camp at around midnight.
He then informed their commander.
On receiving the information, a combined team of Churachandpur district police led by SP Shivanand Surve accompanied by C-Coy, 36 Assam Rifles led by captain Amit Kumar Mishra, inspected the camp which is located about three hours' distance from the district headquarters.
Full details have been taken and further investigation is underway, the police said.
Notably, KIA/KIO is a non-signatory of the tripartite ceasefire pact "Suspension of Operations" (SoO) with the government.
The designated camp in Churachandpur district is occupied by around 25 Kuki militants belonging to different underground groups of Kuki tribes which are under the SoO with the governments at the Centre and Manipur.
The looting of weapons from the SoO camp took place just three days after the Manipur police announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for any person, who provides information leading to the arrest of KIA/KIO chief Thangkhongam Haokip alias Davidson alias Pareng Kom (40) .
The camp is occupied by militants of United Socialist Revolutionary Army (USRA) Kuki National Front (KNF), United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA) and Kuki National Front (Zougam)/ KNF-Z .
Meanwhile, a red alert has been issued to recover the looted weapons, sources said adding that a case has also been registered.
The forest-rich Chura-chandpur district in Manipur, which borders Myanmar and Mizoram, is home to various Kuki-Chin-Mizo militant groups.
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