Two soldiers injured after gunmen open fire as Manipur violence continues

This is the third incident in which a soldier was either killed or injured in firing by miscreants and militants.

Published: 22nd June 2023 07:40 PM  |   Last Updated: 22nd June 2023 07:40 PM   |  A+A-

Women form a human chain to protest against the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur (Photo | PTI)

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Two soldiers were injured when unknown gunmen opened “unprovoked” fire in Manipur on Thursday.

Defence authorities said the injured soldiers were stable and they would join their colleagues in the company operating base soon.

“Armed miscreants resorted to unprovoked firing in N Boljang, Imphal West district in the morning hours of 22 June. Calibrated response by own troops to avoid any collateral damage,” the army’s Spear Corps tweeted.

One INSAS light machine gun was recovered from the site. The army said additional columns were inducted and operations were in progress.

This is the third incident in which a soldier was either killed or injured in firing by miscreants and militants.

On June 6, a Border Security Force jawan was killed while two Assam Rifles personnel were injured in a gunbattle with the militants at Serou in Kakching district of Imphal valley.

ALSO READ | Manipur violence: 'Too little, too late', says Congress on all-party meeting convened by Amit Shah

On June 19, an army soldier had sustained gunshot wounds when miscreants resorted to unprovoked fire at Kanto Sabal in Imphal West district. Over 35,000 army and paramilitary personnel are deployed in the state.

A joint team of the Assam Rifles and the Manipur police recovered a mortar bomb during a combing operation in Imphal East district on Thursday.

The combing operations were launched recently to recover looted weapons. In the early days of the violence which broke out on May 3, mobs looted over 4,000 weapons and lakhs of bullets. Nearly 1,000 weapons were either surrendered or recovered later.

Three persons, including two minors, were injured on Wednesday evening when a suspected IED, planted in an SUV that was parked on a culvert, exploded on the Imphal-Churachandpur road near Kwakta in Bishnupur district.

A tribal organisation alleged the miscreants had made an attempt to cut off the road to Churachandpur, which is a Kuki-majority district in the hills, and flare up the sentiments of the local “neutral” community. Muslims are in a large majority in Kwakta.

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