Manipur hit by fresh clashes, 1 dies in gunfight

THE INCIDENTS COME 26 DAYS AFTER 13 PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN A GUNFIGHT ON DECEMBER 4 IN TENGNOUPAL DISTRICT

- Utpal Parashar and Prawesh Lama

There was a fresh outbreak of violence in strife-torn Manipur on Saturday as gunbattle erupted between Meitei and Kuki groups in the Kangpokpi district, where a Meitei man was killed, and, separately, between Manipur police commandos and militants in the border town of Moreh, where one commando sustained bullet injuries. The two incidents came 26 days after 13 people were killed in a gunfight on December 4 in Tengnoupal district.

Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic violence since early May as clashes erupted between the Meiteis, the most populous community in the state, and the tribal Kukis. While a bulk of the violence took place in the days after May 3, attacks between communities have continued intermittently ever since. The violence has seen 197 lives lost, according to government numbers, and over 50,000 from both communities displaced from their homes, with Meiteis from the Kuki dominated hills fleeing for their lives, and Kukis from the Meitei dominated Imphal valley chased out of their homes. The tension has also seen the creation of community based armed “village defence volunteers” that are often armed.

On Saturday morning at around 3.30am, senior police officials said, there was the exchange of fire between village defence volunteers of the Kuki and Meitei communities. “This took place between the hill ranges of Nakhujang and Singda Kuki villages under Kangchup police station. The exchange of fire lasted till around 4.20am,” the police officer said.

Police officials confirmed that in the firing, a Meitei man identified as Ningombam James, 32, a resident of Imphal West, sustained bullet injuries and was taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal, where he later succumbed to his injuries.