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Army Allows SIT To Examine And Record Statements Of Jawans

Indian Army Rajnath Singh

Kohima: The Indian Army has given approval to the Special Investigation team probing the ambush that went horribly wrong on December 4, which claimed the lives of 14 civilians, to examine and record statements of Jawans, said police sources. A soldier died in a subsequent attack by villagers, who surrounded the jawans in anger.

The Nagaland Probing committee is likely to to complete recording the statements of the 21 Para Special Forces soldiers this week, top police sources said. Itโ€™s not yet clear if the soldiers will be interrogated by the SIT or they will only submit prepared statements.

The Nagaland SIT has been expanded from eight members to 22 officers to speed up the probe, police sources said, adding the bigger team includes five Indian Police Service officers. The SIT has been further divided into seven teams.

It is also not clear how the probe by the state-level team will proceed since Nagaland is under the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act, or AFSPA, which protects security forces from persecution without the centreโ€™s sanction.

A separate army team that is part of the armyโ€™s court of inquiry is already in Nagaland.

The counter-insurgency ambush that went horrifically wrong had started after a unit of the 21 Para Special Forces thought they saw a hunting rifle in a truck that was coming along the Tiru-Oting road of Nagalandโ€™s Mon district on December 4.

The forces, which laid an ambush for insurgents, immediately opened fire, killing six of the coal miners who were in the truck. Two others, who were injured, were taken to the hospital by the army. The matter went out of hand as villagers arrived and attacked the troops with machetes and killed one of them on the spot, slashing his throat.

A renewed call for withdrawing AFSPA has started in Nagaland, with protesters taking out marches. A committee will be formed to look into the withdrawal of AFSPA, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said earlier this week, after a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.

In neighbouring Manipur where state election will be held early next year, removing AFSPA has become a big political issue.

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Covid Update: India Records 1,700 Omicron Cases; Covid Cases Up 22% Today

Aleesha Sam

New Delhi: India recorded 33,750 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 22 per cent higher than yesterday, while 123 people died due to the virus in a day. The number of cases of fast-spreading Omicron variant has risen to 1,700, with Maharashtra reporting the most number of infections.

The active case count of India stands at 1,45,582.

A total of 10,846 recoveries in the last 24 hours took the overall recovery number to 3,42,95,407.

India had reported 27,553 infections on Sunday and 284 deaths due to the virus.

Meanwhile, vaccination opened for teens in the 15 to 18 age group from today amid a surge of Covid cases in multiple cities. Over 8 lakh teens have registered in the governmentโ€™s CoWin portal and all will get a dose of Covaxin. The vaccination programme โ€“ carried out in consultation with schools โ€“ is being held at hospitals and health centres. Those born in 2007 and before are eligible for the vaccine.

COVID-19: Vaccination of children aged 15-18 years to begin from today

COVID-19 vaccination drive for beneficiaries in the age bracket of 15-18 years is scheduled to begin from Monday across the country.

As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, 2021, the vaccination for the age-group 15-18 years is scheduled to begin from January 3, 2022, while administration of precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10, 2022.

In the context of the vaccination of the age group 15-18 years, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had informed the States, Union Territories that only โ€˜Covaxinโ€™ is to be administered in this population category and additional doses of โ€˜Covaxinโ€™ will be sent to all States and UTs.

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