Police and paramilitary personnel have launched a hunt for the militants who had ambushed Manipur Education Minister D.D. Thaisii on Saturday night in Senapati district. The Minister escaped unhurt although one of his guards sustained shrapnel injuries from a Chinese hand-grenade.
Two improvised explosive devices were recovered from the site of the incident.
The Minister was on his way to his village in connection with the inauguration of a public facility when he was ambushed.
The militants escaped after Indian Reserve Battalion personnel opened fire. Tribal villagers took the Minister, who had been advised by the police to return to Imphal, in a palanquin for the rest of the journey. He is still camping in the village.
A Naga representative from Purul in Senapati district, Mr. Thaisii had refused to toe the lines of the Naga groups in boycotting the Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections. So his house in the district was torched on June 1 last shortly after the elections.
Mr. Thaisii was later provided with a bullet-proof vehicle and more number of guards. This is the second attack on a Naga representative. On April 15, another Naga MLA Wungnaoshang Keishing was ambushed in Ukhrul district, in which six guards were killed and many others wounded.
