In a fresh round of violence, two persons were killed in separate incidents in the foothills of Manipur in the past 24 hours.
The first incident took place in Imphal East on Saturday when Lucy Maring, a 55-year-old Naga woman who was ailing from mental illness, was found murdered in Imphal East. The woman was shot in the head and her face was disfigured, a police source said. The Manipur Police said in a tweet on Sunday that nine accused including five women have been arrested in connection with the case and two arms, five rounds of ammunition and a car used in the crime were seized.
The United Naga Council (UNC) said in a statement that the victim was “forcefully apprehended” by a woman group and handed over to a private militia that killed her. The UNC has called for a 12-hour shutdown on Monday in all the Naga areas of Manipur to condemn the incident. It said since the beginning of the conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki communities, Nagas have maintained that peace must prevail.
It called for exemplary punishment for the culprits behind the killing of the Naga woman. The Nagas, comprising 20 tribes, are the second-largest community in Manipur after the non-tribal Meitei, who dominate the Imphal Valley.
In another incident, around 40 to 50 armed miscreants stormed Laimaton Thangbuh, a Kuki village in Kangpokpi district in the hills, where a 34-year-old man identified as Jangkholun Haokip was killed.
Before the incident, around 9 a.m. on Sunday, security forces reported exchange of fire between two groups in the foothills.
A police source said that the village volunteers of the said village sighted the armed miscreants and exchange of fire ensued between the two groups. An army unit deployed in the vicinity rushed to the incident site and cut off the exit routes of the armed miscreants. “A huge mob of civilians, predominantly women, congregated in the foothills and security forces pushed back the mob from entering the hills. The miscreants however fled the area,” the police source said.
On Sunday, a joint team of police, Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) conducted a six-hour cordon and search operation at Phaileng ridge adjoining Kangpokpi and Imphal West districts. During the operation, the teams were fired upon by armed miscreants. The security forces destroyed five bunkers and recovered a M16A2 rifle, a 9 mm carbine and a few rounds of ammunition during the search operation.
Ethnic violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities that erupted in Manipur on May 3 has claimed more than 140 lives so far.
