The bodies of 13 persons killed in a gunfight near Manipur’s border with Myanmar on Monday have been identified following an autopsy in the State’s capital Imphal.
Most of the deceased were from different parts of the Imphal Valley dominated by the Meitei community. At least two of them — one each from Torbung in the Churachandpur district and Moreh in Tengnoupal district — were staying in relief camps.
Many of them were teenagers, three of the youngest aged 16, a list of the deceased accessed by The Hindu said.
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Taking to X on Monday night, the Manipur police said the 13 were killed in a gunfight between unknown armed miscreants at Leithao village near Saibol in Tengnoupal district under Machi police station. The Kuki-Zo community forms the majority in this district.
The police also said that they were probing the case. Tengnoupal, one of the districts affected by the ethnic violence that broke out in Manipur on May 3, shares a porous border with Myanmar where some extremist groups from Manipur and elsewhere in the Northeast have their hideouts.
Families angry
The recovered bodies were brought to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal for post-mortem. The grieving families expressed their anger over the incident and criticised the State government for failing to protect lives.
Some slammed Chief Minister N. Biren Singh for claiming peace had been restored in Manipur.
Members of the families of the deceased collectively decided to perform the last rites at Andro in Imphal East district.
The Congress also came down heavily on the BJP-ruled governments in Manipur and at the Centre for the continued violence in the State.
“…Just yesterday, came news of a fresh round of violence which took the lives of thirteen people. Earlier, a public sector bank had been looted and some Rs. 18 crore carried off. The Home Minister claims peace has returned but ground realities are to the contrary. And of course, the Prime Minister carries on with his inexplicable silence on Manipur, along with his refusal to meet with Manipuri leaders or visit the state,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X.
The ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities has claimed the lives of almost 200 people and displaced 60,000 others.
