Armed militants ambushed the convoy of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh’s advanced security team in Kangpokpi district on Monday, leaving a civilian driver and a security officer injured, police said.
Unidentified militants fired at the 21-vehicle convoy, which was on its way to violence-hit Jiribam district a day before the scheduled visit of the chief minister, from the forest side in the hills at K Sinam village, less than 100 metres from a CRPF battalion camp, along a stretch of the National Highway-37, police officers said.
The incident occurred around 10.30am, with a security officer who was caught in the ambush saying the militants fired over a dozen bullets, some of which pierced the metallic roof of the vehicles and hit two people, including a civilian.
In the attack, the driver of one of the convoy vehicles, identified as Moirangthem Ajesh (28), received a bullet injury on his right shoulder while Aslam Khan, a Manipur police officer, sustained a minor wound.
Ajesh, a civilian from Bishnupur district, who was hired to accompany the chief minister’s advance security team along with medical teams, was rushed to Shija hospital in Imphal. Aslam was given first aid at the spot, a security officer said.
{{/usCountry}}Ajesh, a civilian from Bishnupur district, who was hired to accompany the chief minister’s advance security team along with medical teams, was rushed to Shija hospital in Imphal. Aslam was given first aid at the spot, a security officer said.
{{/usCountry}}While two vehicles of the convoy returned with the injured individuals after the ambush, others were stationed at a police station and will move towards Jiribam on Tuesday. The CM, who has Z-plus CISF security cover, is set to fly to Jiribam from Imphal the same day. In a footage of the ambush recorded by the police team, burst firing could be heard for nearly 50 seconds.
Meanwhile, teams of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Assam Rifles and Manipur Police were sent to the hills from where the militants opened fire. “The joint teams are conducting searches in the jungle,” a senior Assam Rifles officer said.
“It is highly condemnable. Attacking the CM’s advanced security team will be taken as an attack on the CM and directly on the people of the state,” chief minister Singh told reporters in Imphal in the afternoon after visiting the injured civilian in the hospital.
“The state government must do something. I will call on all my colleagues and take a decision,” he added.
Singh visited the hospital soon after returning from Delhi, where he had gone to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union council of ministers.
The ambush on the chief minister’s advance security came a day before Singh’s planned visit to Jiribam, which has been affected by large-scale violence since June 6 evening, when S Saratkumar, a 59-year-old resident of the district, was found beheaded after he went missing. Security has already been heightened in Jiribam, where more than 70 houses, two police outposts and a forest beat office were torched in the violence. Hundreds of people from both the warring communities — Meitei and Kuki — have fled their villages, with around 400 crossing the border to neighbouring Assam.
Since May 3 last year, Manipur has witnessed clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, which has claimed at least 225 lives to date and uprooted around 50,000 people, many of whom are still residing in relief centres.