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Manipur: 3 injured in suspected IED blast, fresh clashes
Fresh incidents of violence, including a car blast, have left three people injured in two districts of Manipur, which has been rocked by ethnic clashes.
New Delhi: At least three people were injured on Wednesday as fresh incidents of violence, including a blast in a parked car, were reported from two districts of ethnic clashes-torn Manipur, officials familiar with the matter said.
Till late on Wednesday night, there was no confirmation of any casualties in the cases of violence.
At Kwakta in Bishnupur district, a blast occurred in a Mahindra Scorpio car parked on the road. Eyewitnesses informed security personnel that the blast happened within minutes of the driver exiting the vehicle after parking it at a culvert on the main road around 7.15 pm, officials said.
Three civilians sustained injuries in the incident and were rushed to the Bishnupur hospital. “We suspect this to be an IED [improvised explosive device] blast. Investigation is on,” an official aware of the matter said, requesting anonymity. “The three people injured in the blast are being treated at the district hospital.”
The other two incidents were reported from Kangpokpi district. At around 7 am, a group of miscreants attacked villagers in the L Tangnaum area in Leimakhong. A team of Assam Rifles intervened, resulting in a brief exchange of gunfire, officials said.
In the other incident, residents informed security personnel about a gunshot fired from a village in Urangapat around 5.45 pm. While there were messages on social media groups that around 1,000 miscreants had assembled in different parts of Kangpokpi such as Gwaltabi and Urangapat, security forces rejected the claims as “false”.
A second official, also declining to be named, said that a group of women protesters blocked at least 5-6 location between Sawombung and Yaingangpokpi to stop them from reaching the villages to probe the matter or sent additional reinforcement.
At least 115 people have been killed and nearly 40,000 displaced in Manipur since May 3, when ethnic violence erupted in the northeastern state between numerically dominant Meitei community — which forms 53% of the state population — and tribal communities, especially Kukis, who live primarily in the hill districts.
