A Nagaland BJP leader has alleged that Assam Rifles jawans fired at him and killed one of his companions on Saturday, Scroll. in reported.
Nyawang Konyak, the president of the BJP’s Mon district unit, said Assam Rifles personnel opened fire targeting them when they were heading to the area where the security forces had gunned down the coal miners.
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At least six workers were killed by Assam Rifles on Saturday evening when they were returning to their village from a coal mine in a nearby forest.
When he heard that six people from his village Oting had been killed by the armed forces, Konyak, had rushed towards the spot. There had been reports of retaliatory attacks on the Assam Rifles by local residents and Konyak said he had gone there to take stock of the situation.
The BJP leader was accompanied by his driver, his nephew and a neighbour. They stopped at a “rest camp” – a cluster of sheds and small shops catering to coal miners – to make enquiries. As they were speaking, Konyak said, soldiers charged at them and opened fire indiscriminately.
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“Khushi khushi maar raha tha,” he alleged. “They were joyously firing at us.”
All three men accompanying him were wounded in the firing, and one of them, his neighbour, eventually succumbed to the bullet injuries, Konyak said. Another civilian was also killed in this round of firing, he added.
Konyak said the security personnel were fleeing towards Assam after local residents, angered by the ambush, had attacked them.