Curfew was reimposed on December 31 in restive Manipur’s Moreh, a town on the India-Myanmar border, following intermittent gunfights between armed miscreants and State police commandos since Saturday afternoon.
Moreh is in Kuki-dominated Tengnoupal, one of the districts affected by the ethnic conflict between Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities that broke out in the State on May 3.
District officials said that a high alert was sounded after fresh violence broke out on Saturday at around 3:45 p.m., when the armed extremists ambushed a team of police commandos, leaving one injured. A gunfight ensued, continuing till 5:30 p.m.
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Rifleman injured
“A splinter injured rifleman G. Ponkhamlung of the 5th India Reserve Battalion in his right thigh during the ambush in Moreh,” a Manipur police officer said. The injured commando was evacuated to an Assam Rifles camp and later shifted to a hospital in the State’s capital Imphal.
The officer said that the extremists carried out another attack around midnight on Saturday, firing rocket-propelled grenades at the police barracks in Moreh. Four commandos sustained aural injuries in this attack.
“Fresh firing started at around 5 p.m. today [Sunday]. There is no report of any injury or death so far,” a district police officer said around 7 p.m.
‘Police burned three Kuki homes’
Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, an organisation representing the Kuki-Zo communities, said that the police had fired indiscriminately and burned down three houses in a Kuki settlement on Saturday. Another community-based organisation, the Kuki Inpi, Sadar Hills, demanded a probe into the “arson”.
The Forum for Restoration of Peace in Manipur expressed concern over the ongoing violence despite appeals from all sections for peace. It proposed the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation committee to mediate and foster reconciliation.
The ethnic clashes over almost eight months have left about 200 people dead and 60,000 displaced in Manipur so far.
