In the early hours of 13 September when the villagers of Makhan, Kamjong district, not far from the Indo-Myanmar border, heard the sound of gunfire they must have thought it was yet another ambush by militants on an Assam Rifles column. But, after the daybreak when the villagers went to the site of firing, they found five bodies, four of Meiteis and one of Tangkhul, to which community NSCN (I-M) general secretary, Thuingaleng Muivah belongs. Their bodies lay on a raised platform in a hut and about 200 empty bullet shells were found scattered on the ground. None of them was wearing the familiar camouflaged fatigues.

By the time the news trickled into Imphal it was late in the day and the initial information was that four members of the valley-based banned People’s Liberation Army and one belonging to the Manipur Naga People’s Front had been shot dead in an ambush by cadres of the NSCN (I-M), whose leaders are on the verge of signing a final settlement with the Government of India. It took three days for personnel of the Kamjong thana to retrieve the bodies and bring them to Imphal for autopsy.

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Kamjong was the happy hunting ground of Muivah’s cadres and it was here that leaders like Livingstone and Atem made their mark as master tacticians of ambushes. I visited Nambisha in 1994 after Livingstone led an ambush on the 9-Grenadiers of the Indian Army, killing 14. Some parts of their bodies were mutilated and it was Livingstone’s reply to the rape of Tangkhul women by personnel of the Indian Army.

Lt-General Chiman Singh, then Army commander at Fort William, came to Imphal by helicopter the next day. I overheard him instructing his junior officers “don’t let these gentlemen (press squad) stay too long.” Two of them had come from Delhi.

Ever since the start of the peace parleys between the NSCN (I-M) and the Government of India, following the July 1997 ceasefire agreement, the guns had, more or less, been silent as the militants no longer viewed jawans as their enemies. Then about four years ago the ambushes on the Assam Rifles resumed, followed by IED bomb blasts and the like. Then it became clear the vacuum left by the NSCN (IM), the bulk of which has converged at the Hebron designated camp near Dimapur, was being taken over by the valley insurgents, namely the PLA, camped just across the border in Myanmar.

Then came the creation of the MNPF, comprising mostly Tangkhuls who are opposed to Muivah’s tactics. It has a united Manipur on its agenda as opposed to the plans of Muivah for a greater Nagaland comprising his own home district of Ukhrul apart from Tamenglong, Senapati and Chandel.

And although on paper there are no designated camps of the NSCN (IM) in Manipur there had been instances of them clashing with the Zeliangrong United Front in Tamenglong district. The latter’s demand for autonomy of the Zeliangrong people runs counter to that of the NSCN’s dreams of a greater Nagaland. There has been skirmishes between the NSCN (I-M) and the MNPF with the latter accusing the leaders at Hebron of cornering all the developmental contract works in the Naga areas of Manipur.

But the latest ambush cannot be viewed as just another piece of statistics in this troubled region. As a matter of fact, relations between the NSCN (I-M) and the PLA were cordial and at one point of time they even shared the general headquarters in the Somra Tract of Myanmar, with the PLA guarding the western gates to ward off attacks by the Myanmarese army. Their top leaders were provided shelter by the PLA when they ventured out into the valley areas. This was some time in the 1980s. But the new ambush has shown that the NSCN (I-M) is unwilling to part with any area of their former dominance.

The PLA is also not likely to take things lightly and could be putting pressure on the NSCN (I-M) as operations in the valley region, mostly in terms of collecting taxes from the business community, runs into hundreds of crores a year.

The assistant secretary, publicity of the Revolutionary People’s Front, the political organisation of the PLA, Bangkim and Thomas Numai of the Manipur Naga People’s Front, in a press communiqué, made available on 14 September, have confirmed the death of sergeant major Richard (A- 3075), Sergeant Lalloi (A-2878), privates Sinthouba (A-3292) and Nanao (A-3290) of the PLA and Private Raikhan Jajon of the MNPF in the early hours of 13 September. They accused the NSCN (I-M) of colluding with the Assam Rifles to start striking out at their fellow kinsmen who are still struggling for “independence” in the Western South East Asian region and have thus exposed their true character.

Sergeant Major Richards was first recruited in 2008 and was a battle hardened veteran and was attached to the 252 Mobile Battalion of the PLA and the rest were attached to the general headquarters. Raikhan Jajo is also from Nongdam Tangkhul village. The communiqué also charged that a combined force of the NSCN (I-M) and the Assam Rifles had laid an ambush on the team when they were on a mission. But judging from the photographs it appears that they were all gunned down as they lay resting in a jhum cultivation hut. The assailants were said to have decamped with four automatic weapons from the deceased.

While the PLA cadres paid their respects to those killed, at all its units speculations are rife of a possible fratricidal war between the NSCN (I-M) and the PLA. The latter is also a member of the CorCom ~ the apex body of the valley-based insurgent groups. And the rest are not likely to stand as mute spectators.

Perhaps the NSCN (I-M)’s longdrawn-out war with the Indian Army is finally going to be over and a new one, with the other rebel groups, seems to be in the offing. The Chanakyas in New Delhi’s North Block must be smiling thinking that the indigenous rebel groups will finish each other off now.

The writer is The Statesman’s special representative based in Imphal