Imphal (Manipur), Nov 1 Security forces in Manipur gunned down seven ultra guerrillas, during an encounter near Andro Sanapat in Imphal on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, Commanding Officer of 28 Assam Rifles, Col. S C Rana, said that they had raided a rebel hideout and had a gun battle, which lasted over three hours.

"We had inputs regarding the movement of armed cadres in the north east jungle area of Andro Sanapat and accordingly the operation was planned and launched. So, at about 23.30 hours (on Saturday) the contact with the UGs (ultra guerrillas) was established and there was a fight, which continued till 2.30 am on Sunday," Col. Rana said.

"The search was carried out and some recoveries made included seven bodies of UGs and weapons," he added.

Huge cache of arms, including two AK 47 Rifles, one 7.62 US made rifle, one .69 automatic pistol, three 9mm pistols, one RPG shell, three lathode grenade shells, two hand grenades, several live rounds of ammunitions, wires, detonating materials, small quantity of explosive materials and one radio set were recovered from the spot of action. (ANI)