Army kills Arunachal civilian in 'mistaken identity' (Lead)

Itanagar, June 15: The Army on Thursday admitted that it shot dead a man in a case of "mistaken identity" during a counter-insurgency operation in an Arunachal Pradesh village bordering Myanmar.

Thingtu Ngemu, 35, was killed when soldiers of 21 Para (Special Forces) were carrying out an operation in the remote Kongsa Basti in Changlang district during Wednesday night.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Suneet Newton said in a statement that Ngemu walked into the ambush, was challenged and asked to stop but he did not.

"The roops had laid an ambush in this particular area based on hard intelligence with regards to movement of a group of hardcore terrorists," the spokesman said.

"It was during this time, the individual, who has got killed, came into the ambush and on being challenged he made very suspicious movements and rushed towards the ambush party, which forced them to open controlled fire," leading to his death, the official said.

"It is a case of mistaken identity," the spokesman added.