GUWAHATI (India), Jan 22: A paratrooper in a remote mountainous area of India’s troubled northeast went on a shooting rampage, killing six of his own unit after an altercation, security officials said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday night in restive Manipur state’s Ukhrul district, about 90km east of the capital Imphal, where the country’s oldest paramilitary force, the Assam Rifles, is deployed for anti-insurgency operations.

In the sixth such incident in the region in the past two years, the paratrooper shot dead one member of his unit in its camp after an altercation whose cause is unknown.

Others rushed to the scene when they heard gunshots. The paratrooper then opened indiscriminate fire, killing five more and wounding two.

Security forces launched a massive search operation in the mountains after he escaped with automatic weapons and a large quantity of ammunition.

“Before anyone present in the camp could realise what had happened, the soldier fled from the site,” Major Shamsher Jung, Assam Rifles spokesman, said in Imphal.

The stress of being posted in remote conflict areas for long periods and cases of alcoholism are often blamed for the killing of dozens of soldiers in quarrels over not being granted leave and other personal issues.

Soldiers face danger not only from militants but also tough terrain and extreme weather conditions, experts say.

In July, a soldier burst into his officer’s room and shot him dead.

Ringed by China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, India’s northeast is home to more than 200 tribes and has seen separatist revolts since India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Militant groups accuse New Delhi of plundering the region’s mineral and forest resources, but investing little in return.

India has placed military, paramilitary and police forces under a single regional command to tackle the rebellion.—Reuters