The 10 suspected militants killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with an Assam Rifles unit in Manipur’s Chandel district were Myanmarese citizens and their bodies have been handed over to the neighbouring country, a top state police official told Scroll on Friday.

The Assam Rifles launched a security operation after it received specific intelligence input about the movement of “armed cadres” near New Samtal village in the Khengjoy tehsil. The village is located near the India-Myanmar border in Chandel district.

The paramilitary force had launched the operation along with the Indian Army’s Spear Corps.

“During the operation, the troops were fired upon by suspected cadres to which they quickly reacted, redeployed and retaliated in a calibrated and measured manner,” the Army’s Eastern Command had said on Wednesday.

The 10 suspected militants were killed in the ensuing gunfight and a sizeable quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered, the Army had said.

The weapons seized included seven AK-47 rifles, one RPG launcher, an M4 rifle and four single-barrel breech-loading rifles, the army said in a separate statement.

The Army has not provided details of the group the suspected militants belonged to. However, Army officials said that as per preliminary assessments, those killed were “known for involvement in cross-border insurgent activity”.

The situation along the India-Myanmar border remains under heightened surveillance, officials had said.

Manipur has been mired in ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities that have killed at least 260 persons and displaced more than 59,000 persons since May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024.

President’s Rule was imposed in February this year after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned.

Between April 19 and April 21, the Manipur Police arrested at least 18 alleged members of several banned outfits in the state.