GUWAHATI: A day after Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) claimed that they have gunned down 10 militants in Manipur's Jiribam district on Monday, the bodies of two elderly male civilians were recovered on Tuesday morning.
Official sources said the bodies of Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho were found during a search at Jakuradhor Karong area where some shops were set on fire by suspected militants on Monday.
Kuki-Zo organisation, Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) alleged that the 10 persons gunned down by CRPF was not militants but Kuki-Zo “village volunteers.” They were ambushed and murdered, ITLF said.
“It is important to note that the state has never witnessed so much casualties in one incident of cross-firing. This suggests that the CRPF and Meitei state forces ambushed and murdered all the village volunteers,” the ITLF said in a statement.
“If the volunteers were indeed armed and intending to attack the security forces, it would have been impossible to kill so many of them in one incident of cross-firing from a distance,” the organisation said.
The bodies of civilians were recovered after a search operation was conducted for some missing persons. The sources said some civilians, who were apparently hiding somewhere, returned on Tuesday morning.
After Monday’s incident, prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS were clamped in the district. Overnight gunfire was reported from some parts of the Imphal West district.
A “total shutdown” is being observed in the Kuki-Zo areas on Tuesday to pay respect to those who died.
The Manipur police had stated on Monday that “armed militants” had attacked a CRPF post at Jakuradhor and Borobekra Police Station located nearby, and the CRPF and the police fiercely retaliated the attack.
In a statement, the police stated that after the firing ceased, the area was searched and the bodies of 10 militants were recovered along with arms and ammunition. A CRPF jawan was injured and evacuated to Assam’s Silchar Medical College and Hospital
The Kuki-Zo Council called for a total shutdown in the hill areas of the state from 5 am to 6 pm on Tuesday to express their "collective grief and solidarity with who were brutally shot dead".