Nearly 200 people been killed and several hundreds injured since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 this year.
Manipur Violence Update: Tension gripped Manipur’s Imphal Valley on Wednesday, day after an armed mob reportedly abducted five members of the Kuki-Zomi community in the Imphal West district of the violence-torn northeastern state.
According to reports, the victims were travelling in an SUV car in Leimakhong of Imphal West district from Churachandpur when they were intercepted and attacked by an armed mob. Five people– three men and two women– were allegedly kidnapped by the armed assailants, however, one of the men managed to escape their clutches, reports said.
Reports quoting a Kuki-Zomi welfare organization claimed that two women (aged 60 and 55) and two men (aged 40 and 25) were abducted by the mob while one managed to escape. The abduction comes days after two Meitei students were allegedly kidnapped by Kuki militants.
In a social media post, the Manipur Police, while confirming the incident, said a group of five Kuki-Zo men and women were travelling in a car when they were waylaid by an armed mob who “forcibly took away” four of them.
One person managed to escape and was later found by security forces in an injured condition. The victim was airlifted by a helicopter to Dimapur for urgent medical treatment, they said, adding that efforts are underway to locate and rescue the four abductees.
The incidents comes day after two Meitei students, aged 16 and 19, went missing from from Imphal West district. The families of the missing boys said they had left home on their two-wheeler at around 9 AM on November 5. However, when they did not return till late afternoon, the worried families called their wards on their mobile phones but did not receive any response.
Police have recovered the phones of the missing teens wrapped in a black polythene packet from an oil pump in Senapati district.
Meitei groups claimed that the two boys were kidnapped by Kuki militants and staged protests in Imphal Valley.
9 injured in firing incidents
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, at least nine persons including two Manipur police personnel and a woman sustained bullet injuries after unidentified men fired on them at Kangchup foothills in Kangpokpi district adjoining Imphal West district, officials said.
Alarmed over the presence of five unknown persons from a different community who had strayed into Meitei area, a large group of people including women from Phayeng went to Kangchup hillside to find out about them, eyewitnesses said,according to news agency PTI.
However, as soon as they reached, suspected militants from the hills started firing at them, they added.
Later, village volunteers and security forces rushed to the spot leading to heavy exchange of fire, they said.
“Though firing has stopped at Kangchup area, additional security personnel have been deployed in the area to cool things down,” police said.
Seven persons were admitted to RIMS while two have been admitted to Raj Medicity in Imphal, hospital officials informed.
Meanwhile, four persons who had strayed into the Meitei area are missing while one has been found by security forces in a critically injured condition, the police had said.
Security personnel are conducting operations to trace the four missing persons, they said
In another firing incident, armed men attacked Koutruk in Imphal West district, police said.
The Manipur violence
Nearly 200 people been killed and several hundreds injured since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals — Nagas and Kukis — constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.
(With PTI inputs)