GUWAHATI: In the continuing ethnic violence in Manipur, at least one person was killed while three others were injured when two groups were engaged in a fierce gunfight for hours together on Thursday.
The incident was reported from Kangvai on the border of Meitei-majority Bishnupur district in the Imphal valley and Kuki-majority Churachandpur district in the hills. The violence erupted in the wee hours and continued till afternoon.
Houses were reportedly also torched. Their exact number could not be ascertained.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) issued a statement confirming the death of one person and injuries to three others, all from the Kuki-Zo community, in the incident.
The ITLF identified the deceased as Lunminthang (30) and the injured as Jangkholen Haokip (28), Kamminlal (32) and Thanjahao (34).
The organisation said the violence broke out around 4 am and it lasted for almost the whole day. Bombs were also used in the attack, the organisation alleged.
According to locals in the Bishnupur district, some people from the Imphal Valley also sustained injuries. It could not be officially confirmed.
During the gunbattle, mortar shells were also fired, the locals claimed.
“I heard a loud sound this afternoon. I felt it was a bomb that exploded,” a local from Moirang in Bishnupur district told this newspaper. Moirang is more than 5 km away from Kangvai.
The protestors in Imphal on Thursday slammed Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga for his alleged provocative remarks in connection with the Manipur violence.
The incident of Thursday’s gunfight comes a day after a riotous mob torched some 30 abandoned houses of Meiteis in Moreh on the India-Myanmar border on Wednesday. The Meiteis living in Moreh had moved to the Imphal Valley after the violence in the state broke out on May 3.
In another incident, on Tuesday, a mob had set afire two Manipur-registered buses in Kangpokpi district.