NIA to probe killing of 3 armymen by NSCN militants in Arunachal Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The NIA will probe the killing of three army personnel by suspected NSCN militants in Arunachal Pradesh recently.

The Home Ministry has decided to hand over to the National Investigation Agency the case of the attack on an Army convoy in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district on April 2 where the armymen were killed, official sources said.

The three Army personnel of the 4 Rajput Regiment were killed and four others injured when suspected NSCN insurgents had ambushed the Army convoy near the Arunachal-Nagaland border.

The army convoy was on its way to Longding district in Arunachal Pradesh from an army base in Assam's Tinsukia district when it came under attack in Toip area in Tirap district.

Since the 1990s, three districts of Assam - Tirap, Changlang and Longding are entirely covered by AFSPA while nine other districts have a 20-km corridor, bordering Assam, covered under AFSPA.

In a notification issued on March 27, the Home Ministry extended AFSPA to these 9 districts in their entirety, prompting angry protests from Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.

Tuki alleged that AFSPA was extended to his "peaceful state without any consultations."