Subhechcha Ganguly 
Twelve Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) militants were released when a mob of about 1,500 women in Manipur defied the search operation.An Army spokeswoman confirmed the incident and revealed that among the 12 KYKL members they had captured earlier in the day was Moirangthem Tamba, alias Uttam, the architect of the 2015 attack that claimed the lives of 18 soldiers.
“At around 2:30 p.m., security personnel in Imphal East’s Itham hamlet initiated an operation in response to specific intelligence inputs, and a cordon was then established… Twelve KYKL cadres were captured in the ensuing operation along with weapons, ammunition, and warlike supplies. The perpetrator of the 2015 Dogra ambush case, self-styled Lt. Colonel Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam, was positively identified among the 12 people detained, the spokesperson added.
Immediately after, a crowd of 1,200–1,500 people headed by women and a local leader surrounded the target area and blocked the security personnel from carrying out the operation, according to the official who was quoted above. The hostile mob was repeatedly pleaded with to allow security officers to continue the operation in accordance with the law, but nothing changed.The official said, “in view of the sensitivity of use of kinetic force,” the 12 cadres were afterwards returned to the local leader.However, he said that the “war-like stores recovered from insurgents” were taken by the security forces.
