Myanmar has protested to New Delhi over what it says was a cross-border raid by Indian security forces earlier this month, a Kolkata newspaper said on September 11.
The alleged hot pursuit on September 5 by the paramilitary Assam Rifles claimed the lives of three members of the Manipur-based People’s Liberation Army, The Telegraph reported from New Delhi.
The Assam Rifles said in a statement after the raid that it had occurred on Indian soil but the newspaper quoted security sources as saying the paramilitary force had to deny crossing the border because operation took place without clearance from its top echelons.
The sources had unofficially corroborated Myanmar’s claim that the raid took place near the Sagaing Region border town of Tamu, The Telegraph said.
It is the second time this year that a cross-border raid by Indian security forces has strained bilateral relations.
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Commandoes crossed into Sagaing Region in early June to launch retaliatory strikes against camps used by an Indian insurgent group after it killed 18 soldiers in an attack on an army camp in Manipur.
During a visit to New Delhi in July, Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin signed an agreement with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to fight “terrorism and insurgent activity in all its forms and manifestations”. Later that month, Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing travelled to India for talks on border security cooperation.
