2 min readMar 4, 2026 06:45 AM IST First published on: Mar 4, 2026 at 06:45 AM ISTFive people, including a PWD engineer and three underground leaders, were shot dead by suspected People’s Liberation Army (PLA) activists at Thongju near Imphal, the police said. The three leaders of the United Socialist Revolutionary Party, a faction of the PLA, were identified as Chananbam Iboncha Singh, Angon Ibotomb Singh and Ningombam Inao Singh, alias Somorjit Singh.AGP wins Assam bypollsAsom Gana Parishad won the by-elections in the Kaliabor and Golakganj Assembly constituencies and raised its strength to 68 in the House of 126, giving a further blow to the Congress (I) whose popularity had nosedived after the defeat in December. While the election to Kaliabor was held as CM Prafulla Mahanta vacated it and retained Nowgong, the election to Golakganj was countermanded following the death of the Janata candidate.India, Korea for stronger tiesAdvertisementIndia and the Republic of Korea reaffirmed their desire to strengthen their friendship. The potential for closer economic and industrial cooperation between the two nations was underlined by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his South Korean counterpart, Shinyong Lho, at a banquet held in honour of Mr and Mrs Lho. Lho said he was certain that efforts on the part of both governments and peoples to promote greater cooperation “will bring our two countries closer together.”Rift over Army desertersThere are serious differences between the Centre and the Punjab government over the issue of Army deserters involved in post-Operation Bluestar developments. While Punjab is going ahead with its scheme of rehabilitation of Army deserters, the Centre opines that it might affect military discipline.