Nagaland villagers raid India troops' camp over civilian massacre

Protesters have thrown stones and set fire to army trucks and areas around a camp belonging to Indian troops in the remote northeast, with one civilian shot dead in renewed violence a day after 14 people were killed by troops.

On Sunday, civilians launched protests against the government in the Mon district of northeastern Nagaland state, where the 14 tribal coal miners were killed.

"There is a mob outside which is pelting stones," a security official who did not want to be named told Reuters news agency from the camp, which was surrounded by protesters.

"One civilian was shot dead and two more injured in firing by Assam Rifles a short while ago in Mon town," Noklem Konyak, president of the Konyak Students Union, told Reuters by telephone.

Konyak is the dominant tribe in Mon district.

Indian military and government officials were not immediately available to comment on the latest killing.

READ MORE: Indian forces 'mistakenly' kill over dozen civilians in northeast

Insurgencies in the region

Indian military said it had "credible" information about the presence of rebels in the area but later it regretted the civilian killings saying forces "mistook" a group of labourers for rebels and opened fire.

More than a dozen civilians and some members of the security forces were also wounded in the incident and violence that followed, said a federal defence ministry official based in New Delhi.

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said he was "anguished" at the news of civilians, who were members of a local tribal group, being killed.

Nagaland's chief minister Neiphiu Rio told Reuters news agency an investigation would be conducted and the guilty punished. He said the incident was the result of an intelligence failure.

Government forces are battling dozens of ethnic insurgent groups in India's remote northeast whose demands range from independent homelands to maximum autonomy within India.

Many there accuse New Delhi of plundering resources and doing little to improve their lives.

People in Nagaland have frequently accused security forces of wrongly targeting innocent locals in their counterinsurgency operations against rebel groups.

READ MORE: Unrest in India's northeastern frontier may morph into a big problem

Mothers' union seeks camp removal

The Naga Mothers' Association (NMA), an influential rights' group in Nagaland, appealed to all Naga tribes to mourn the loss of civilian lives and demanded that the Indian army's cantonments should be shifted out of civilian areas.

"Let the world know our grief and sorrow and may our voices of protest be heard against the continuing militarisation and killings under the Armed Forces Powers Act," said Abeiu Meru, the president of NMA.

The Act gives Indian armed forces sweeping powers to search and arrest, and to open fire if they deem it necessary for the maintenance of public order in parts of the country they declared as "disturbed areas".

Some parts of Nagaland were given that designation by the federal government last year.

Police and local government officials have intensified vigilance and patrolling across the border state ahead of final rites for the dead scheduled on Monday.

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