One person was killed and at least 10 others were injured in firing by unidentified miscreants in a village bordering Imphal West and the hilly Kangpokpi district in Manipur on Monday morning.
Firing was also reported from two other villages in Imphal West but the same was controlled after the Assam Rifles personnel reportedly rushed in.
Security sources said the man, aged about 27 years, died after firing at around 8 am which was reportedly directed towards the villages in the hilly Kangpokpi district. The injured were rushed to hospitals.
Assam Rifles are manning the buffer zone between Imphal Valley and the Kuki hills like Kangpokpi and Churachandpur in order to prevent further escalation of the situation. As the vigilance on the buffer zone has been intensified, security forces are at the same time carrying out operations to disarm the communities by destroying the "bunkers" illegally constructed by "village volunteers" belonging to both the Meitei and the Kuki communities for protection of their villages from attacks.
Several "bunkers" have been destroyed in Imphal East, Imphal West, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Kakching districts in the past few days. But sporadic incidents of firing have kept the situation tense in the state battling violence for more than two months now.
Sources said efforts are also underway to recover the weapons which were reportedly snatched from armouries during the riot in May.
The firing came on a day when the Supreme Court asked the Manipur government to submit an affidavit about the snatched weapons. The apex court also asked lawyers of both the Kuki and Meitei communities not to use the court to escalate tension in Manipur after they engaged in a blame game over the violence.
More than 120 people have been killed and over 60,000 others have been displaced due to the violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3.