Imphal: Three people were killed, several others injured, and three reported missing in separate incidents in Manipur’s Imphal East and Thoubal districts, police said on Monday.
A police official said that two people were shot dead and two others were injured when unidentified militants reportedly opened fire on a group of firewood collectors in Imphal East on Monday.
According to the police official, around 10 people had gone to the hilly forested areas near Nongshum in the morning to collect firewood. While they were busy collecting the firewood, suspected militants ambushed them, killing two people on the spot and injuring two others.
Three more people were missing after the incident.
Efforts were underway to retrieve the bodies of the victims. Additional security forces have rushed to the areas and launched a massive search operation to locate the missing people and nab the attackers.
In a separate incident, one person was killed and several others injured in clashes between members of two communities in Thoubal district, prompting the authorities to impose prohibitory orders in two affected areas.
A police official in Imphal said that the violence erupted at Khangabok village, under Thoubal police station and around 25 km south of Imphal, on Sunday night when a group of people allegedly pelted stones at a ground where a music concert was being held.
The incident escalated into stone-pelting between members of the two communities in Khangabok and neighbouring Sangaiyumpham. A few houses and vehicles were also set on fire during the clashes.
Amid the violence, unidentified miscreants opened fire, hitting a person in the head.
The injured man, identified as Laishram Rakesh, was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries, police said.
Several other people sustained minor cut injuries after being hit by stones and were admitted to a hospital for treatment. Additional state and central security forces were deployed in the affected villages to prevent further escalation.
The situation was under control on Monday morning, police said.
Following the violence, the Thoubal District Magistrate issued prohibitory orders on Sunday night, directing residents of Khangabok and Sangaiyumpham not to leave their homes from 11 p.m. The order, issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), cited the likelihood of a breach of peace, disturbance of public tranquillity and an imminent threat to human life and property due to the alleged unlawful activities of anti-social elements.
The order did not specify when the restrictions would be lifted.
Meanwhile, more than 25 houses were set ablaze in separate incidents in Manipur’s Kamjong district during the past 24 hours, with suspected militants targeting both Naga and Kuki inhabitant areas, forcing civilians to flee their homes and take shelter in forests and a nearby security camp. Around 14 abandoned houses belonging to the Naga community were set on fire by unidentified attackers at Pilong and Skipe villages along the India-Myanmar border on Sunday. Additional security forces were deployed after these incidents, a police official said. The houses had been abandoned after earlier attacks on the Naga-inhabited villages.
–IANS–
