Guwahati, India--Heavily armed rebels in India's restive northeast killed at least 20 troops on Thursday, police said, in one of the area's worst such attacks in years.
Another 12 soldiers were seriously wounded in the ambush on a military convoy in Manipur state, which has been plagued by insurgent violence for decades.
"Preliminary reports suggest that militants used rocket-propelled grenades on a convoy, killing 20 army soldiers on the spot," Manipur's home secretary J S Babu told AFP by telephone.
Police said the convoy was in a remote area of Chandel district, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of Manipur's state capital Imphal, when the attackers struck.
Police said details remained scant because of poor communications in the remote area, which is deep inside a forest.
The wounded have been taken to a military hospital in Manipur.
No militant groups have so far claimed responsibility for the ambush, which police and the military said was one of the biggest attacks on security forces in the state in recent years.
AFP
