The People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Manipur Naga People's Front (MNPF), both based out of Manipur have claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of Indian Army Colonel Viplav Tripathy on Saturday.
Col. Tripathy, his wife, and son, and four other jawans of Assam Rifles were killed in the ambush. He was a Commanding Officer of 46 Assam Rifles. The jawans who lost their lives have been identified as Suman Swargiary, Khatnei Konyak, RP Meena, and Shyamal Das. The PLA was believed to be behind the attack.
In a joint statement released by the groups on Saturday evening, they said that the attack was carried out "to protect our people" and that they were resisting attempts to "destroy the rights of our land and people". They also said that they were unaware of the army officer's wife and son being present in the convoy.
The statement further said, "We will not sit silently till we get our rights and sovereignty".
Revolutionary People's Front's (PLA's political wing) deputy publicity secretary, Roben Khuman and Thomas Numai, MNPF publicity secretary issued the joint statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have all strongly condemned the attack.
