Manipur violence: Assam Rifles' daring rescue of state police commandos ambush video goes viral on social media

Videos have surfaced showing how the Assam Rifles freed the Manipur Police commandos who had been heavily shot and cornered by militants during an ambush on a highway, in a dramatic first-hand view of the daring rescue from inside an armoured vehicle.

The insurgents hiding on a hill had ambushed a reinforcement convoy of the Manipur Police commandos on the highway near Sinam Village under Tengnoupal district on October 31.

The commandos were headed to Moreh, 115 km from Imphal, as reinforcements after a senior police officer was killed by an insurgent sniper while supervising the building of a helipad in the border town, which had witnessed violent clashes in recent months between the Meitei, who inhabited the valley and the hill-dwelling Chin-Kuki tribes.

Also Read: Manipur: Pray for the Central leaders, stay hopeful, God never fails, Minister Nemcha exhorts IDPs in Kangpokpi

The films, which have also gone viral on social media, show Assam Rifles soldiers in an armoured Casspir mine-resistant vehicle approaching a highway bend at a moderate pace. The armoured truck can be heard ricocheting from a barrage of gunfire as soon as the route turns straight. Fire from atop the hill has trapped a lengthy queue of Manipur Police commando SUVs on the side of the road.

The video showed complete mayhem within the Casspir, with blood on the metal floor, yet the troops calmly and professionally directed return fire as the armoured vehicle moved out of the danger zone.

The Assam Rifles troops took three injured commandos to a hospital and there were no casualties reported.