Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 11: At least 11 suspected Kuki insurgents were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Manipur’s Jiribam district bordering Assam on Monday, official sources said.
Two CRPF personnel also sustained injuries during the heavy exchange of fire that happened at Jakurador Karong in the Borobekra sub-division. The condition of one of them was stated to be critical and was evacuated to Silchar Medical College in Assam. Sources said the situation was still fluid and more details were awaited.
Militants in camouflage uniforms, armed with sophisticated weapons, fired indiscriminately at the Borobekra police station, and the CRPF camp located alongside it around 2.30 pm, officials said. A few of the militants broke out and went to the Jakurador Karong market, around 100 metres away, and torched several shops, besides attacking some houses, they said.
As the security forces retaliated, a heavy exchange of fire began and 11 suspected militants were killed, they added. The gunfight lasted a little over an hour, officials said.
The encounter began after the suspected Kuki insurgents launched a massive attack from two sides on a police station in Jiribam, sources said. There is also a relief camp for internally displaced people next to the police station. The attackers may have looked to target the camp too, sources said, but five people living in the relief camp went missing, they said. It was not clear whether these civilians were kidnapped by the retreating militants or went into hiding after the attack began, they said, adding that a search was underway for them.
This police station in Jiribam’s Borobekra had been targeted several times in recent months. After attacking the police station, the suspected Kuki insurgents spread out towards a small settlement in Jakurador Karong, 1 km from the police station, and began setting houses on fire, sources said, adding they simultaneously engaged in a gunfight with the security forces.
CRPF has sent reinforcements to Jiribam, sources said. Kuki civil society groups have announced a shutdown in areas dominated by them over the deaths of who they called “village volunteers.” Weapons recovered by the security forces after the gunfight include rocket-propelled grenade (RPGs) and AK series assault rifles.
The bodies of those killed were brought to the Borobekra police station, officials said. Following the incident, prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS were imposed in the area, according to a notification.
“There is apprehension of widespread disturbance to peace and public tranquillity or a riot or any affray in the area and grave danger to human lives and properties because of unlawful activities of some anti-social elements,” said the notification, prohibiting assembly of five or more persons.
Borobekra sub-division has witnessed multiple incidents of violence since June. It is one of the worst-affected areas of the district. Both sides maintain that their “village volunteers” use single-barrelled licenced guns, despite hundreds of leaked visuals indicating otherwise. Tension has been high in Jiribam since last week when a fresh round of violence broke out.
On Thursday last, a woman from the Hmar tribe was killed by suspected Meitei insurgents, who also set houses on fire in Jiribam. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was killed. A day later, a woman from the valley-dominant Meitei community was shot dead by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was working in a paddy field.
This morning, suspected Kuki insurgents opened fire from the hills in Imphal East District, leaving a farmer injured. The attacks during the paddy harvest season have raised concerns as farmers are getting reluctant to go to their fields, officials said.
The Kuki tribes had protested against the Centre’s move to shift two Assam Rifles battalions from Manipur to Jammu and Kashmir.
More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year. Ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes in Imphal Valley and the adjoining hills, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June this year.
Thousands had to leave their homes and take shelter in relief camps due to incidents of arson. A CRPF jawan was also killed in an ambush by militants during patrolling in mid-July.