15 suspected Al Qaeda activists nabbed in Manipur

Paramilitary troopers have apprehended 15 suspected Al Qaeda activists from a border town in Manipur after the group entered the region from Myanmar, officials said Monday.

A defence ministry spokesperson said Assam Rifles troopers nabbed the group from a house Friday at Moreh town, 110 km from Manipur's capital Imphal. Moreh is located on the border with Myanmar, with the two countries sharing an open 1,600 km boundary.

"The group of 15 Muslim migrants had entered Moreh from Myanmar without valid travel documents. We shall be formally handing them over to the police Monday for further interrogation," defence spokesperson Lalit Pant told IANS. "No arms or ammunition were recovered from the group."

Police and intelligence officials said 10 of them were Myanmarese and five were Bangladeshi nationals - the group members were planning to enter Bangladesh through neighbouring Assam.

"There is a strong suspicion that they have links with the Al Qaeda or some other Muslim fundamentalist or terrorist groups. We shall soon be interrogating them," a senior police official said requesting not to be named.

Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is a hotbed of insurgency. Most rebel groups in Manipur have bases in Myanmar from where they carry out hit-and-run guerrilla strikes in the region.

(IANS)

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