GUWAHATI: A truck driver from West Bengal was killed on the spot and a police constable injured in an ambush by suspected militants in violence-hit Manipur’s Ukhrul district on Friday morning.
“Unknown armed miscreants ambushed a goods vehicle proceeding towards Ukhrul, along National Highway 202 between Leingangching and TM Kasom under Litan police station in Ukhrul district. The security forces retaliated. Reportedly, one driver sustained bullet injuries and succumbed. One police constable was injured,” a government official said.
Officials identified the driver as Nitish Das (65) from the Hooghly district of West Bengal. He was ferrying rice for the Food Corporation of India when the attack was perpetrated.
The injured police constable was identified as Disingam Maringmei (34), a Naga, from Sangaiprou in Imphal West district. He sustained bullet injuries to his knee.
The incident occurred at around 11 am when personnel of the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and Manipur Police were escorting trucks en route to Ukhrul from the state capital of Imphal.
Shortly before the incident, protestors had blocked roads on the way at Shangkai to prevent the movement of the trucks, prompting the personnel escorting them to fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. After the road was cleared, the trucks left for Ukhrul but came under the attack just 6 km away.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Condemning the recent killings of three church leaders in Kangpokpi district and abduction of 14 Kuki civilians, the Kuki CSO Working Committee, Ukhrul alleged that Friday’s peaceful protest at Shangkai was a legitimate cry for justice.
“Instead of addressing our genuine grievances, the CRPF and Rapid Action (Force) personnel responded with brutal, excessive force against unarmed civilians, especially women. Reports from the ground confirm that security forces fired multiple rounds of tear gas directly at the residential area, assaulted protesters, and shot a woman in the head and she is now fighting for her life. Tear gas was also fired into a house sheltering a 95-year-old woman, causing her severe respiratory distress,” the organisation alleged.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh condemned the ambush, calling it a cowardly act, intended to further aggravate the prevailing tense situation and derail the state government’s efforts to restore peace and normalcy in the state.
“The Chief Minister expressed his deepest condolences on the loss of life of a truck driver from West Bengal,” an official statement said.
On April 18, two Naga civilians, including a retired Indian Army soldier, were killed when suspected militants ambushed their vehicles near the same place of Friday’s incident. Officials had then suspected that the attack was carried out by snipers.
Litan and its surrounding areas witnessed many violent incidents since February this year during conflicts between Nagas and Kukis. Lives were lost and houses were burned down in the incidents. The people affected were from both communities. Ukhrul is a Naga-majority district.