Imphal: Two villagers were killed and another injured in an attack by suspected militants in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Monday, police officials said.
However, a leading Kuki tribal organisation claimed that three innocent villagers, including two women, were reportedly shot dead, while four others sustained bullet wounds and remain critically injured.
A police official in Imphal said that armed militants belonging to a suspected militant group opened indiscriminate fire at N. Teikhang, a Kuki-inhabited village in the mountainous Kangpokpi district, using sophisticated weapons, killing two persons and injuring another.
Several houses were also set ablaze during the attack.
The heavy firing forced several villagers, including women and children, to flee their homes and take shelter in nearby forests, the official said.
Security forces comprising Manipur Police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have rushed to the area and launched operations to bring the situation under control.
The attack came days after suspected militants ambushed a vehicle in the district, killing four Naga civilians and injuring another.
More than 20 people of both Naga and Kuki communities have been killed in separate firing incidents, and several houses have been burnt since violence broke out between the Naga and Kuki communities in the state in February this year.
The Twilang Area Kuki CSO Working Committee vehemently condemned what it described as “an unprovoked and barbaric attack allegedly carried out by armed cadres of the NSCN-IM and its alleged proxy force, ZUF-K, on the innocent residents of Teikhang village”.
The Kuki tribal organisation, in a statement, claimed that around 50 heavily armed cadres of the separatist NSCN-IM attacked the village, indiscriminately opened fire on civilians and set several houses ablaze. “Three innocent villagers, including two women, were reportedly shot dead, while four others, including a woman, sustained bullet wounds and remain critically injured,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the deceased have been identified as Tingneichin Lhouvum, 40, Hoineineng Lhoujem, 21, and Lamtinthang Lhoujem, 36. The critically injured villagers have been identified as Nemneichong Lhoujem, 50, Seilun Lhoujem, 70, Deilhing Haokip, 55, and Kamtinsei Chongloi, 38.
The tribal organisation strongly condemned the attack and alleged that innocent civilians were targeted without any provocation, triggering panic among the residents of the Kuki-inhabited village.
Kuki Students’ Organisation also strongly condemned the attack. Police and security officials said that additional details were being ascertained and security forces were continuing operations in and around the affected area.
(IANS)
