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Fresh clashes erupt in Manipur, four injured
A police officer, requesting anonymity, said the four injured men have been rushed to the Raj Medicity hospital in Imphal
At least four men were injured after two armed groups clashed and engaged in gunfight on Thursday in different places along the borders of Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts of Manipur, people aware of the matter said.
The Manipur police were yet to share the details of the victims. Till late on Thursday night, gunshots were heard being fired by miscreants at different places along the two district borders, police said.
Tribal body, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), however, claimed that a 30-year-old man had died in the incidents, while three others were injured. In a press statement, the tribal body said all four were village volunteers. “The attack lasted for almost the whole day. Bombs were also used in the attack,” ITLF said.
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A police officer, requesting anonymity, said the four injured men have been rushed to the Raj Medicity hospital in Imphal.
At around 4 am on Thursday, the exchange of gunfire started after armed miscreants entered different villages in Kangvai, Kwakta, Phugakchao IKhai and Terakhongshangbi areas.
Officials aware of the matter said there were tensions in and around Kangvai and nearby Torbung areas after a teenager was injured by a mortar shell fired by armed miscreants on Wednesday.
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“Police and security forces are at the spot. The villagers have been rescued so that they don’t get caught in the cross fire. Firing is still on,” an officer at the Manipur police’s control room said on Thursday night.
The fresh firing incidents were reported a day after a group of armed miscreants ransacked 15-16 abandoned houses in Moreh town and set them on fire, following which a gun battle broke out between the armed mobs and security forces on Wednesday.
At least 150 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 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 mostly inhabit Imphal Valley — and tribal Kukis, who live primarily in the hill districts. Violent clashes broke out after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill district of Churachandpur on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Even as cases of violence have come down in the recent weeks, miscreants from both tribal and non-tribal groups continue to be in possession of large cache of arms and ammunition that were looted from police armoury. During the course of violence, mobs across different districts broke into armouries of police and other military units in two phases — first during the initial week of violence and the other during May 27-28 — and looted 3,500 guns and over 500,000 rounds of ammunition. So far, police and security forces have recovered only around 1,200 guns and 13,000 rounds of ammunition.ad
