A senior government official stated that People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a banned insurgent group in the Northeast, is trying to regain its foothold in the region with the help of such propaganda videos. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a banned insurgent group in the Northeast, has released a video claiming to have carried out a drone attack on a temporary base of an Assam Rifles (AR) unit along the Manipur–Myanmar border.
The 6.56-minute video, released on Thursday (December 11, 2025), purportedly shows a drone dropping an explosive on an AR camp in Tengnoupal district of Manipur. The incident is said to have occurred on November 28, in which four Assam Rifles personnel were injured.
After the incident, the Army had said in a statement that a “patrolling party of Assam Rifles was fired upon by terrorists” in Tengnoupal district along the India-Myanmar border in the early hours on November 28. “The fire was immediately retaliated against with caution, keeping in view the civilian safety. The operations are currently underway, with additional troops being deployed into the area,” the statement said.
The PLA is a Meitei insurgent group which operates from Myanmar. The outfit, banned since 1979, espouses the secession of Manipur from India.
A senior government official stated that the group is trying to regain its foothold in the region with the help of such propaganda videos.
After the September 19 ambush in Nambol, when two AR personnel were killed, security forces launched an intensive operation against the group and arrested several cadres. The PLA also claimed responsibility for the ambush in the video.
“After the September 19 incident, several combing operations were carried out, leading to the arrest of many cadres of the outfit. This is an attempt to instil fear in people and extort money,” said the official.
The Nambol ambush was the first targeted attack against central security forces deployed in Manipur since the May 2023 ethnic violence. Manipur was placed under President’s Rule on February 13.
The attack occurred on NH 2, the route used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reach Churachandpur district in the hills from Imphal airport on September 13, during his first visit to the State since the outbreak of ethnic violence.
The drone used in the November 28 attack was rudimentary and locally assembled, the official said. “The drone appears to be commercially procured, and the ammunition is also not of a high grade. It was low-tech equipment and could not inflict any damage. All four personnel are stable, and they received only shrapnel injuries,” said the official.
The PLA said in a statement that it was supported by other banned groups such as NSCN (K-YA) and ULFA (I) and that it carried out several attacks on the Assam Rifles from September 19 to December 10.
The Assam Rifles is the primary border-guarding and counter-insurgency force deployed along Myanmar border.
Published – December 14, 2025 05:30 am IST
