Militants fire at cops in Manipur, 4 injured

Militants attacked Manipur police commandos in Moreh, firing rocket propelled grenades and engaging in a gunfight, resulting in injuries and curfew being imposed. The attack occurred just hours after another unit of commandos was attacked on the same highway. The situation remains tense as security forces work to restore peace in the area.

There was high alert in Manipur’s border town Moreh on Sunday after militants attacked Manipur police commandos inside their barracks on Saturday night, during which rocket propelled grenades (RPG) were fired, officials aware of the matter said. Even as curfew was imposed in Moreh, militants and security forces on Sunday evening were engaged in a gunfight in the jungle area bordering the T Yangnom village of Moreh which led to many villagers fleeing from their homes. Till late Sunday evening, the two sides were engaged in a gunfight.

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The attack on the commandos at around midnight on Saturday was reported from Moreh, hours after another unit of the Manipur commandos travelling on the Imphal-Moreh highway was attacked during the day. One commando sustained splinter injuries when the convoy came under heavy fire around 3.45pm on Saturday.

“The situation was under control after Saturday afternoon’s incident. But around midnight, militants fired RPGs and heavy gunfire to attack the commandos sleeping inside the barrack at around midnight. Four of them sustained minor injuries. One of them may have sustained damage to his ear because of the blast of the explosives,” an official aware of the matter said.

The militants who were hiding in the hills, official said, used cover of the night and engaged in firing at the barracks for almost half an hour. The four commandos were rushed to the nearby hospital of the Assam Rifles.

Following the incident, top officials of the Assam Rifles have flown to Moreh, a border town near the India-Myanmar border.

Kaikholal Haokip, spokesperson of the Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal, an umbrella group for Kuki residents of Tengnouplal, confirmed that unidentified gunmen had attacked the commandos around midnight. “Senior officers of Assam Rifles have come to Moreh after last night’s incident. Curfew has been imposed again and the security forces are holding meetings. The situation is tense. The forces have also roped in CSOs of Moreh and are holding meetings to restore peace,” Haokip said.

Haokip said that during the day, residents saw helicopters of security forces making numerous sorties over Moreh. “It is unclear if the helicopters were transferring the injured security personnel or bringing additional Manipur police commandos. All civil society organisations are against posting of Manipur commandos because they are biased and against Kuki-Zo Tribals. The commandos also burnt three houses in Moreh yesterday.”

But even as forces are working to restore peace in Moreh, a gunfight started in another part of the town till Sunday evening.

At around 3pm on Sunday, security forces, who were patrolling in the jungle area near the T Yangnom village were shot at by unidentified gunmen. Y Tangnom village is about 2km from Moreh town.

“We fled from our houses as soon as the firing started. Assam Rifles and Manipur police commandos had come to the village. They were then engaged in gunfight with unidentified gunmen in the hills near our village. The initial firing between them lasted for nearly two hours. Except the elderly and sick, all village residents fled immediately,” said Seijang Baithe, chief of the village.

Baithe said that the village has around 25 houses. “We have heard that the firing has stopped. If the situation is better we will return to our village tomorrow. There is curfew across Moreh. it is enforced strictly in Moreh town,” he said on Sunday night.

A senior police officer, who asked not to be named confirmed that firing had broken out between forces and militants. “There are no reports of any casualty so far,” he said on Sunday night.

Also on Sunday, the Manipur government transferred Tengnoupal superintendent of police, Luikham Lanmiyo. Moreh comes under the administrative jurisdiction of Tengnoupal.

To be sure officers aware of matter said the transfer is routine because there were four SP rank officers who were given new assignments on Sunday. While Lanmiyo, was transferred to Senapati district, another officer Rahul Gupta has been appointed as chief of Tengnoupal district police.

The transfer order of the four officers said, “The officers shall take charge of their new posts immediately. Rahul Gupta, IPS shall move first. DGP Manipur shall ensure the same.”

The nearly one-month long peace in ethnic strife torn Manipur was punctuated on Saturday morning when gunfight broke out between Meitei and Kuki village volunteers, in which one person died. Before Saturday, 13 people were killed in a gunfight on December 4 in Tengnoupal district.

Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence since early May as clashes erupted between the Meiteis, the most populous community in the state, and the tribal Kukis. While a bulk of the violence took place in the days after May 3, attacks between communities have continued intermittently ever since.

The violence has seen 197 lives being lost, according to government numbers, and over 50,000 from both communities displaced from their homes, with Meiteis from the Kuki dominated hills fleeing for their lives, and Kukis from the Meitei dominated Imphal valley chased out of their homes. The tension has also seen the creation of community-based armed “village defence volunteers” who are often armed.

The Meitei man, who died on Saturday morning was one such volunteer.