The situation remained tense in areas bordering the Churachandpur-Bishnupur districts of Manipur for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as seven more persons were injured in a gunfight between two groups. The injured include two Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) jawans, who sustained splinter injuries.
A day ago, two men were killed, and eight others were injured in a fresh round of violence at Khoirentak in the same area.
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A defence source said mortars and automatic weapons were being used by the groups in the hills and valleys to fire at each other. While the hill district of Churachandpur is Kuki-Zo dominated, Bishnupur in the valley is Meitei dominated. The inter-district boundary or the “buffer zone” has seen frequent clashes between the two communities since ethnic violence erupted in the State on May 3.
Four persons from the hills and one person from the valley were injured in the heavy exchange of fire reported on Wednesday.
On August 3, a police armoury was looted in Bishnupur. Since the violence began, more than 4,000 weapons and lakhs of ammunition have been looted from police armouries in Manipur.
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The source said that the Indian Army and other Central security forces had been deployed in the area, and meetings were being held with civil society groups to bring the situation under control.
A fresh spell of violence started in the early hours on Tuesday, hours before a special session of the Manipur Assembly was convened.
More than 150 people have been killed and over 50,000 people displaced in the State since May 3.
