Imphal:
A team of Manipur police commandos sent for reinforcement to a border town after a senior police officer was shot dead this morning were ambushed en route by suspected insurgents, police said.
Many commandos were injured in the ambush that took place 10 km before Tengnoupal district.
Troops of the Assam Rifles rushed to the ambush site and rescued the police commandos, government sources said. Many have been taken to hospital.
The India-Myanmar border trading town of Moreh in Tengnoupal, where senior police officer Chingtham Anand was shot dead by a suspected insurgent sniper while supervising the construction of a helipad, is about 115 km from the capital Imphal.
While the distance on paper is not much for a highway on the plains, the Imphal-Moreh route has many hills, jungles and hairpin bends that significantly increase the risk of an ambush by insurgents, sources said.