- NET Web Desk
A cadre of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) Niki group was killed during a recent factional clash that occurred between the banned outfits National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Unification (NSCN-U) and NSCN-K Niki group on Sunday October 17 night near Khehoi Camp in Peren district.
Identified as Atoka Kinimi, the cadre is an additional secretary for the NSCN-K Niki group.
A source informed that Atoka and three other members were ‘ambushed’ on their way to recover their “abducted” members by the NSCN-K group.
Members of NSCN-K alleged that 10 of their cadres were “abducted” by NSCN-U a few months ago.
These abducted members were then forcefully made to join the Unification group.
“Somehow, some of them conveyed to us that they did not want to join the group. So, we sent some members to get them, but on the way, they were ambushed, and the additional secretary was killed,” the source said.
According to sources, after receiving specific inputs about the movements of NSCN-K Niki group heading towards Khehoi, some cadres were waiting by the roadside.
A vehicle carrying Niki Sumi members were signaled to stop, and one of their cadres stepped down and opened fire, which in turn forced the other group to return fire.
During the attack, a NSCN-K Niki cadre was killed, while one was “apprehended” by the NSCN-U.
Besides, the other two cadres somehow managed to escape.
According to NSCN-U sources, the retaliation was an act of “defence” and their intention was never about killing them.
“As per the Ceasefire Ground Rules (CFGR), even the security forces are not allowed to come within 1 Km stretch of the designated camp. But they (Niki Sumi cadres) came into our jurisdiction intentionally. If we had bad intentions, all of them would have been killed. Our intention is very clear that killing one another won’t solve any problem. But it is our human right to defend ourselves,” the source said.
“We will see what will be the outcome but it is not necessary that we will kill the arrested person.” – asserted NSCN-U source about the involvement.
