NEW DELHI: Protesters on Monday placed the bodies of two persons outside Manipur chief minister Y Khemchand Singh's bungalow in Imphal after they were killed by suspected militants near the border of Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts.Angry locals brought the bodies to Imphal to protest the violence that has plagued the state since May 2023. They placed the bodies outside the main gate of the chief minister's residence in Babupara.It was not immediately known whether the CM was present at the residence during the protest.Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the protesters, following which the bodies were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS). One of the injured, identified as Ksh Deven, was stated to be in serious condition, officials said.According to police officials, four others were also injured after suspected militants opened fire on a group of firewood collectors.Three persons are still missing following the incident, which took place at Khongbal Sunurok Uyok in Kangpokpi, a few metres from Nongshum village in Imphal East, they said.
The deceased were identified as Arubam Ronil (35) and Lairenlakpam Inaobi (51).
They were among 16 people who had gone to the hills near their village around 7 am to collect firewood when they were ambushed, officials said.Earlier on Sunday, at least 15 houses belonging to the Kuki community were torched in a hill village in Manipur's Kamjong district, forcing several civilians to flee to forest areas and a nearby Army camp.According to news agency PTI, a Kuki civilian was killed and four others sustained bullet injuries when suspected militants attacked the village.In a separate incident at Kamjong district headquarters on Saturday night, three Tangkhul Naga civilians sustained bullet injuries when rival armed groups belonging to another community attacked the village.
Rohitashwa Ranjan is a digital journalist with The Times of India, where he decodes Indian politics as a carefully staged production with scripts, subtext and everything behind. His stories track elections, party dynamics and the things that often are buried beneath the headlines. When not parsing vote shares or alliances, he is usually reading between the lines, where the real story tends to reside.