The Indian government has been left red-faced, with Home Minister Amit Shah having to express regret in Parliament, after a special unit of the Indian Army opened fire on a vehicle carrying coal miners in the Mon district of Nagaland, in remote northeastern India, killing six people. In the retaliatory violence that erupted an hour later, seven more civilians and an Army soldier were killed. 

The Army has expressed regret over what was reportedly the fallout of mistaken identity after "credible intelligence" pointed to the movement of Naga separatists in the region. Both the Army and the government have ordered probes into the incident that has sparked grief and anger in the restive border state that had for decades witnessed a violent separatist insurgency. 

Shah admitted in the Lok Sabha that it was a sad case of "mistaken identity" by the Army as it had received information on the movement of extremists in Oting.

At least one Indian Army soldier was killed and many were injured later after "security forces had to resort to firing in self-defence" to disperse an angry crowd of locals who attacked the army convoy after receiving news of the miners' deaths.

A day after the reported civilian killings by security forces, the Nagaland state government prohibited all mobile internet, data services, bulk SMS of all providers in the entire area of Mon district with immediate effect.

Following the incident,  there was a chorus of demand from  civil society groups, rights activists and political leaders of the Northeast  demanding the withdrawal of the "draconian" Armed Forces (Special Power) Act,  from the region, alleging excesses by security forces with impunity under the cover of the Act.  (SAM)