New Delhi: An Assam Rifles patrol was waylaid with an improvised explosive device in the Tengnoupal district of Manipur on November 16, reports said.

Ethnic violence has roiled the state since May 3.

"A defence source said the IED was remotely detonated by cadres of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a Meitei insurgent outfit, that is among eight extremist organisations recently banned by the Union Home Ministry," The Hindu has reported.

The IED was placed on a road down which a 'mine-protected vehicle', with around 10 soldiers of the Assam Rifles, was travelling.

A source told the newspaper that no one was injured in the attempt.

Another official, quoted anonymously in the report, told Hindu that on October 31, an Assam Rifles team rescued Manipur Police from an ambush near village Senam in the same Tengnopaul district.

In August, the Manipur Police had filed a first information report against personnel of the 9th battalion of the Assam Rifles for allegedly obstructing a public servant carrying out their duty and disobeying the law. The FIR pertained to the aftermath of the violence in Kwakta, Bishnupur, where three Meitei residents were killed on August 6. Two Kuki men were killed in retaliatory firing later in the day.

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