Seven security personnel, including four Manipur Police commandos and three BSF jawans, were injured in an attack by suspected militants on Tuesday at Moreh in Tengnoupal district, close to the Myanmar border.
Four Manipur Police Personnel And Three BSF Soldiers Injured
With Tuesday’s incident, a total of 11 security personnel have been injured in different extremist attacks in Tengnoupal district since Saturday. This comes a day after four people belonging to the Meitei Pangal community were killed when armed miscreants opened fire into a crowd at Lilong Chingjao in Thoubal district. The attack in Moreh took place at around 8 am on Tuesday when a team of security personnel was conducting routine operations. They were attacked with bombs and automatic weapons, and the injured were airlifted to a hospital in Imphal.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said militants from Myanmar – Moreh borders the neighbouring country – were likely involved in the attack. “We have… established from various sources the involvement of foreign mercenaries from Myanmar, like the KNA-B and KNA-R (factions of the Kuki National Army),” Singh said. Days earlier, on Saturday night, three commandos of Manipur Police were injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack at one of their posts in Moreh.
Reacting to the escalating violence, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum and Committee on Tribal unity have declared 24-hour shutdown in all Kuki-Zo areas (from midnight of January 3 to Jan 4) to protest against the alleged atrocities of the Meitei state forces and to demand their removal from all Kuki-Zo districts.
Manipur has been gripped with ethnic violence since May 3 last year after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts of the northeastern state to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. More than 100 people have been killed in the ethnic conflicts since May 3. Government figures state that around 60,000 individuals have been displaced, while unofficial numbers imply an even higher number, according to a report by India Today NE desk.
