Imphal, June 21: The army claimed major successes in its operation to flush out militants holed up in the interiors of Manipur’s hill districts after taunts from a banned group, which said its members killed at least five soldiers during an encounter.

Maj. Gen. Govind Dwivedi, general-officer-commanding (GOC) of the army’s 57 Mountain Division, told the media that troops had flushed out militants from two areas that were hitherto known as “rebel-liberated zones”.

The military offensive, codenamed Operation Rainbow, was launched by the army’s Red Shield Division in the first week of this month.

The GOC said the army yesterday killed eight militants in Henglep subdivision of Churachandpur district and seized a cache of weapons, including six Kalashnikov rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and an M-16 rifle. Two soldiers were injured in the encounter and are undergoing treatment at the Leimakhong Army Hospital, he said.

The groups to which the slain militants belonged have yet to be identified, but Gen. Dwivedi said they could be from any of three outfits ? United National Liberation Front, People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and Revolutionary People’s Front ? known to be active in the area.

A PREPAK spokesman had claimed that his group killed “five to six army personnel” and lost only two members in the encounter, which the 57 Mountain Division chief dismissed as a baseless statement.

He said troops handed over the bodies of the slain militants to villagers after the shootout.

Henglep is a 14-hour’s drive from Churachandpur town and Phoipi, the site of the encounter, is another eight km from there. Army units are still entrenched in the area.

Gen. Dwivedi said the successful operation in Henglep was the second major achievement by the army in June. “Soldiers flushed out militants from the Jiribam-Kaiphuindai sector of the National Highway 53 in the first week of this month. They are now on the run and the army will continue to chase them until they are all eliminated. The Henglep and Jiribam-Kaiphuindai stretches were militant strongholds for over six years now.”

The army was deployed in southern Manipur in October last year in deference to a request from the state government.

The Border Roads Organisation resumed work along National Highway 53 ? a series of kidnappings had stalled its projects ? only after the army was called out.

On the allegation by PREPAK that the army used villagers as “human shields” during yesterday’s encounter, Gen. Dwivedi said the site of the encounter had no human settlements. “Till today, no villager has lodged any complaint about human rights violations by our troops. They are actually happy with the army operations.”

The GOC, who visited Henglep on Saturday, said the civil administration would start functioning now that the area had been rid of militants. “Army operations will go on until our mission of bringing about peace and normality in the state is accomplished.”