Five civilians were killed and three BSF personnel injured in fresh violence that spread throughout several districts in Manipur on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. This comes a day after two police personnel were killed and six others injured in an attack by armed militants in Tengnoupal on Wednesday morning, taking the toll over the two days to seven dead and nine injured.
Across Thursday, there were violent protests in several parts of the state that continued to be tense, with security personnel and the administration struggling to put a lid on violence that has now lasted eight months.
Senior police officials confirmed that in Bishnupur district, four persons, all Meiteis, were killed by armed miscreants at Ningthong Kha Khunou around 2 pm on Thursday. The deceased have been identified as Ningthoujam Nabadeep (40), Oinam Bamonjao (63), Oinam Manitomba (37) and Thiyam Somen (56).
“Four persons were killed in an attack by armed miscreants on Thursday afternoon. We have managed to recover all the bodies and sent them to Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Imphal for postmortem and other formalities,” Meghachandra Singh, Bishnupur superintendent of police said.
The four killed were reportedly tilling a farm when they came under attack, and after the deaths, there were protests that erupted in several places in parts of the Imphal Valley. In a separate incident earlier in the morning, a gunfight broke out between armed village volunteers at Kangchup in Imphal West district, where a 23-year-old identified as Takhelambam Manoranjan, a Meitei, was killed.
Protests continued in Imphal and adjoining areas
Protests continued in Imphal and adjoining areas over the law and order situation in parts of Manipur, triggered by the killings of two on-duty police personnel in Moreh in Tengnoupal district. On Thursday, hundreds of volunteers affiliated with the ‘Youth of Manipur’ took to the streets near the state secretariat here to appeal for action against the perpetrators.
They also demanded the ouster of Kuldiep Singh, the former Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) director-general who was made in charge of the inter-agency unified command and appointed security adviser to the state government last June. Protesters further demanded that the unified command be put under the control of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.
At Yaiskul in Imphal city, Manipur Police resorted to firing tear gas shells to disperse protesters.
Meanwhile, air assets in the form of helicopters reached Imphal Thursday. In light of the law and order situation in Moreh, the state home department had requested the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deploy air assets in Imphal “immediately from 17 January onwards for at least (for) a period of seven days to meet the emergency requirements”.
Sources in the state security apparatus told ThePrint that some high-ranking officers of the Assam Rifles also arrived in Moreh to take stock of the situation.
(With inputs from Agencies)