At least five people, including one civilian, have been killed as violence flared between two warring ethnic communities in the restive northeastern Indian state of Manipur, according to authorities.
Manipur has been rocked by periodic violence for more than a year between the predominantly Hindu-majority Meitei and the mainly Christian Kukis over economic benefits, and government jobs and education quotas.
A court had ordered the state government to share the benefits enjoyed by the Kukis to the Meitis, fuelling the tension.
A new round of clashes and exchange of gunfire took place on Saturday in the district of Jiribam, located on India’s border with Myanmar.
“Fighting has been going on between armed groups of both the communities since the morning,” said Krishna Kumar, deputy commissioner of Jiribam.
One person, a civilian, was shot dead while sleeping and another four “armed persons” were killed in a “subsequent exchange of fire”, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Officers responding to the attack “were fired upon by suspected Kuki militants but the police team retaliated robustly and repelled the attack”, a police statement said.
A state of 3.2 million people, Manipur has been divided into two enclaves since an ethnic conflict began in May 2023 – a valley controlled by the majority Meiteis and the Kuki-dominated hills.
The areas controlled by the Meitei and Kuki tribes are separated by a stretch of no-man’s land monitored by federal paramilitary forces.
Amid the violence, the state government ordered all schools in the state to remain shut on Saturday “to protect the safety of the students and teachers”.
Attacks that began earlier this week have seen the use of drones to drop explosive devices in what authorities have called a significant escalation.
The Indian Express newspaper, citing an unnamed security source, said the rockets appeared to be “improvised projectiles” made using “galvanised iron pipes attached to explosives”.
Police say they suspect that the drones were used by Kuki armed groups, a claim the group denied.
More than 225 people have been killed and some 60,000 have been displaced since the tensions erupted last year.
