Nagaon, July 3: The army gunned down a Naga militant in North Cachar Hills today, lending credence to allegations that Naga militants were involved in the ongoing ethnic violence in the Assam district.

Army officers deployed in the district said a group of militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, opened fire on a Jammu and Kashmir Rifles patrol team when it was crossing the Naga-dominated Choto Ninglo village under Mahur police station in Maibong sub-division around 9am. The village is 40km from Maibong town.

The army personnel retaliated, killing one of the militants during the encounter that lasted more than 20 minutes. Another militant was injured, but he managed to flee, the officers added.

Local villagers, however, alleged that there was no encounter with militants and the army had fired on village defence personnel (VDP).

NC Hills deputy commissioner S. Jagannathan said preliminary reports suggested that the group comprised more than 20 people and it might have been a joint team of militants and village defence personnel.

The army team was reportedly fired upon from a bunker erected by the VDP in the village.

The Zeme Students’ Union, Guwahati, today demanded a magisterial inquiry into the incident, saying the security personnel had attacked the VDP. It also demanded strict action against the errant security personnel.

Refuting the allegations, the army said the militants had fired on the patrol party, forcing it to retaliate.

“Where is the question of the presence of VDP members in an abandoned village? We have sufficient proof to say that they were not VDP personnel. The VDP neither have AK-47 rifles nor do they wear black uniforms. Moreover, VDPs do not target army personnel,” an army officer in NC Hills said.

The army later recovered the body of the Naga youth who is yet to be identified. Two 12 bore rifles, 12 cartridges and some ammunition of AK series rifles were found on him.

Jagannathan said VDP personnel were not issued any rifle officially but some villagers had licences of .22 or .32 rifles. On Wednesday, militants had used countrymade rifles to kill six villagers in Semkhor.

A senior police official in the district said identification of the slain youth and arrest of the injured militant “might bring to light more facts about the encounter”.

Over 50 persons from the Dimasa and Zeme Naga tribes have died in the clashes that started in the hill district in March.