Goa Governor S C Jamir had a close shave when unidentified assailants made an abortive bid on his life near Changki village while he was travelling from his ancestral residence in Mokokchung district in Nagaland to Dimapur at around 0630 hours on Saturday.
Nagaland police informed that suspected underground rebels ambushed convoy of Jamir, who is on a holiday in his home state, using mortar shells near a bridge on the hilly road. A couple of security personnel received minor injuries in the attack though the former Nagaland chief minister escaped unhurt.
Police informed that Jamir, also a veteran Congress leader, reached his residence at Dimapur safely around 1020 hours after the attack on his convoy. Senior police officials from Mokokchung rushed to the incident site following the ambush.
It was the fourth attempt on the life of the veteran political leader from Nagaland. Earlier, the Naga rebel group NSCN-IM, which is now in truce with government of India, made three abortive attempts of his life.
The NSCN-IM had, in a recent statement, banned Jamir from coming to his home state accusing him of being anti-Naga. The NSCN-IM is apprehensive of Jamir's attempts to make a comeback in the state politics by contesting the forthcoming assembly elections on a Congress ticket.
Jamir maintained a very strong stand against continuing insurgency in Nagaland while he was the chief minister of the state. He has all along been kept out of the on-going peace process involving the NSCN-IM and the government of India despite his vast experience about ground realities in Nagaland.
More from rediff