Indian army inquiry team visits Nagaland to investigate recent counter-insurgency operation killing 13 civilians

Kolkata: An inquiry team of the Indian Army visited the Oting village in the Mon district of Nagaland on Wednesday to investigate the botched counter-insurgency operation killing 13 civilians.

The visit comes in the wake of the army constituting a Court of Inquiry to investigate the killing of 13 civilians by security personnel.

“The Court of Inquiry constituted by the Indian Army to investigate the Mon incident visited the site at Oting Village on December 29, 2021. The inquiry team, headed by a senior rank officer, a Major General, inspected the site to understand the circumstances in which the incident could have happened,” read a statement from the Indian Army.

Officials in the Indian Army said that the team was accompanied by the witnesses to understand the situation and how things unfolded on the fateful day.

“Subsequently, the team was also present at Tizit Police Station, Mon District between 1330 to 1500 hours on December 29, 2021, to meet the cross-section of the society including civilians, police personnel and doctors who treated injured for obtaining valuable information pertaining to the incident,” added the statement.

On December 4, security forces fired upon a pickup van carrying six local coal mine workers in a case of mistaken identity. When these six local coal mine workers did not return home, other locals launched a search for them. Thereafter, when their bodies were found, an agitation began and security forces once again fired upon killing seven others. One Indian Army jawan was also killed in the incident.

Sources in the Indian Army said, that the Court of Inquiry is progressing expeditiously and all efforts are being made to conclude it at the earliest.