Unrest seems like returning to again as a 36-year-old man was shot dead and four others were injured after suspected militants launched a gun attack at a village in Manipur’s Kamjong district on Saturday, police said.
Police added that the ,militants fired several rounds of bullets at the Kuki village of Chassad at around 2.30 pm, following which an exchange of fire was reported between a local armed group and the suspected militants. “The gunfight is still underway in the evening,” he said.
Injured were taken to a hospital
Village head Thangjahou Haokip (48), and four others – Khailun Haokip, Seikhohou, Hegin Haokip and Seipao Haokip – were injured after the suspected militants attacked the village.However, all the injured were taken to a hospital where Seikhohou succumbed to his injuries, police said.
Moreover, the Committee on Tribal Unity, in a statement, condemned the attack on Chassad village and urged the state government to deploy central forces there.
More than 50 people have been killed since February
More than 50 people have been killed and dozens of houses burnt following clashes between Kuki and Naga tribes in the state since February. The violence has affected Tamenglong, Kamjong, Ukhrul, Noney and Kangpokpi districts.
Earlier in the day, security forces have arrested a man while transporting arms and ammunition for a proscribed outfit during an operation in Manipur’s Imphal West district. Saiche Boysan Kom, a member of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party (MFL), was arrested on Thursday at Lamdeng Makha Leikai, police said.
A light machine gun, an M4 rifle along with one magazine, an AK 56 rifle with a magazine, a mortar along with five shells, one pistol, four grenades, 87 rounds of different calibres, and five detonators were recovered. In a separate operation on Friday, a joint team of police and CRPF seized a self-loading rifle, an INSAS, one modified. 303 rifle and several other ammunition from Lasan and Langka areas in Kangpokpi district.
Man killed in militant attack in Manipur
Earlier this week, the severed head of a man killed in a suspected militant attack on a Naga-inhabited village in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district has been recovered, police said. Ajinbou Ringkamai was killed during an attack by gunmen at Makui Ashang village on October 10.
His head was severed, and it was not found thereafter.
The headless body was brought to state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) here on October 11. A Naga organisation, Joint Tribes Council Manipur, had issued a 48-hour ultimatum for locating the decapitated head of Ringkamai for a proper funeral.
“The head was found in an isolated area near the site of the incident by a joint team of CRPF and police late on Wednesday night, and it was brought to JNIMS this morning for autopsy,” the official said. A video purportedly showing heavily armed militants with the severed head went viral on social media on October 10.