Agencies

Guwahati, Jun 11: The Indian Air Force has ordered a court of inquiry into an incident on Friday in which a man in Arunachal Pradesh's Kamle district was injured during a routine bombing exercise involving Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft.

A statement, issued by an air force spokesperson based in Shillong, Meghalaya, said the person had sustained shrapnel injuries following bombings by an aircraft. The official, however, claimed that the exercise had been conducted inside its Dulaunmukh range and the person could have encroached into the zone.

The air force fighter planes take off from the Tezpur base in Assam for the drills. Arunachal Pradesh is strategically important as it shares a border with China. The state has been one of the centres of Sino-Indian border conflict as China claims the entire Arunachal as its territory.

Sources said the victim has been identified as Bini Todum, a retired Sashastra Seema Bal jawan who had suffered multiple fractures after being hit by the shrapnel. The incident took place on Fridaymorning in Ruyu village in Dollungmukh circle of Kamle district. The village is close to the Assam border.

The victim was first admitted to a dispensary of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation at Gogamukh in Upper Assam's Dhemaji district and was referred to Tomo Riba Institute of Health Medical Sciences at Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh.

Villagers living close to the air force base have been demanding shifting of the base fearing threat to their lives and property.

The matter was raised during a hearing of the National Human Rights Commission in Itanagar on May 25.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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