Woman killed, few injured in fresh Manipur violence

Imphal: In a fresh incident of violence on Thursday, one woman was killed and a few others were injured at Leimakhong-Haraothel in Kangpokpi district, police said.

A police official in Imphal said that armed militants carrying sophisticated weapons raided several villages in Kangpokpi district, opened fire and assaulted people.

A woman was killed on the spot at Leimakhong village and several others were injured in the militants' firing.

Para-military personnel accompanied by Manipur Police have rushed to the villages and launched combing operation to nab the extremists.

Sharing some details of the incident, the Army tweeted : “Unprovoked firing by armed rioters towards village Haraothel commenced at 5.30 a.m. Own troops deployed in the area immediately mobilised to prevent escalation of the situation.

While enroute to the site, Own columns drew effective fire from armed rioters. Own troops responded in a calibrated manner to prevent any collateral damage. Swift action by troops resulted in cessation of firing.”

“Additional columns moved to the area. Unconfirmed reports indicate some casualties. Build up of large crowds in the area also reported. Situation being closely monitored and further details will follow,” the Army tweet said.

An official statement from the Manipur police control room said that during the last 24 hours, 17 arms, 12 pieces of ammunition and 10 bombs have been recovered from different districts.

These recovered arms and ammunition were looted by the violent mobs, miscreants and the militants during the ethnic violence that broke on May 3.

Claiming the situation as tense in some places with sporadic incident of firing during the last 24 hours but normal in most districts, the police statement said that the state police and Central forces are continuously conducting patrolling, flag marches and cordon and search operations in vulnerable areas both in the hill and valley districts.

It said that about 124 Nakas/checkpoints are installed in different districts of Manipur, both in the hill and the valley and police have detained 408 persons in connection with violations of curfew rule and other government orders in different districts of the state.

Urging the people to extend all possible help in bringing normalcy in the state, the government statement also appealed to the people to return and deposit arms, ammunition and explosives to the police or security forces immediately.