An army major and two Assam Rifles personnel were killed and seven others injured in an ambush by Manipur insurgents on an AR patrol party in this interior hill district bordering Myanmar on Wednesday, official sources said.

Armed insurgents, hiding by the roadside, exploded grenades, detonated Improvised Explosive Device and shot at the security men in Sorbung village under Phungyar police station at around 8.40 am, they said.

The security personnel retaliated and three men were killed.

The fighting lasted for nearly an hour, the sources said adding name of the major, who was commanding the AR patrol party was yet to be known.

Police forces have rushed to the spot and have launched a search to track the militants, they said and added that the seven seriously injured security men have been rushed to a nearby hospital.

Though the identity of the insurgents was not known, police said it suspected that they belonged to the banned United National Liberation Front.

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