Guwahati/Imphal
- A day after the CRPF and Manipur police shot dead 10 suspected Kuki militants who attacked their post and police station in Jiribam district besides nearby areas inhabited by the Meiteis, the bodies of two men were found on Tuesday. Both were Meiteis.
- This apart the police said six more persons — three women and three children — continue to remain missing since the gunfight.
- IGP (operations) I K Muivah said the security forces are carrying out operations to trace the missing people. Operations are also underway to flush out militants, and reinforcement teams, consisting of Assam Rifles, and CRPF, have been deployed in disturbed areas.
- The bodies of two men – Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho – were recovered from the debris in the Jakuradhor Karong area, where militants set fire to some shops on Monday. The Jiribam district administration has imposed prohibitory orders to avoid any untoward incident in the area.
The two had been staying at a relief camp at Borobekra police station and were among those from the camp to have gone missing since the attack. Nearly 120 people have been staying at the relief camp set up in the police station for residents of nearby villages with the rest of the Meitei people displaced from this area staying in relief camps in Jiribam district headquarters.
- For their part, Kuki-Zo groups enforced a shutdown since 5 am on Tuesday in majority areas in the hills to protest against the killing of suspected insurgents in the gunfight with security personnel.
- The attack by the Kuki militants occurred around 3 pm on Monday at an area close to the hills of Pherzawl district that has the Hmar community in majority. All the 10 militants killed belonged to the Hmar tribe. Incidentally, last week, a woman from the Hmar tribe was killed by suspected Meitei insurgents, who also set houses on fire in Jiribam. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was killed.
