IMPHAL: Suspected Kuki militants on Monday attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Manipur’s Jiribam district which has witnessed a fresh escalation of violence since Friday, people familiar with the matter said.
Initial reports indicated that 10 militants died in the gunfight that followed after the CRPF retaliated to the attack, the people said. A CRPF jawan is also reported to have sustained injuries in the operation.
The people said about the militants, who were in combat uniforms, died in the gunfight that took place in the Jakuradhor area under Borobekera Police Station. The militants are also alleged to have set fire to abandoned shops and fired several rounds at a Meitei village in the area.
Monday’s gunfight in Jiribam comes against the backdrop of incidents of gunfights and attacks being reported from parts of Manipur over the last three weeks.
Two persons including a farmer were also injured in violence in Imphal East and Bishnupur districts on Monday.
Kanshok Horam (35), a farmer in New Cannan, Imphal East, who was being treated at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), said he was injured when he went to the paddy fields at Yaingangpokpi Santi Khongbal. “At around 9am, I heard a gunshot, and when I looked at myself, I saw multiple wounds. The assailants directly shot at us. We tried to escape but couldn’t… After some time, BSF personnel and Yaingangpokpi police retaliated and rescued us,” he said.
Doctors said Kanshok had seven multiple pellet injuries. Five of them were removed at the Primary Health Centre in Yaingangpokpi before being referred to JNIMS. Two other pellets are lodged in his body and will be removed.
An officer at the Yaingangpokpi police station said a joint team of state police and BSF personnel heard the gunshots at 9:35am and rescued seven farmers after a 10-minute gunfight. He added that the combined team conducted area domination in the Uyok Maning Ching (Uyok hill range) and destroyed several bunkers used by armed miscreants to launch attacks on the farmers.
In a separate incident, militants from the Dumpi hill range, adjacent to a Kuki-dominated area, also attacked Saiton village in Bishnupur district at 2:30 am on Monday. The village falls on Bishnipur district’s boundary with the adjoining district of Churachandpur.
A village volunteer was injured in the gunfight that followed for several hours when central security forces repulsed the attack.