Guwahati: At least 10 persons including two police personnel were injured after "armed miscreants" opened fire in Manipur's Imphal West district on Tuesday amid growing tension over disappearance of two Meitei teenagers.
In a social media post, the Manipur police stated that an SUV carrying five Kuki individuals was confronted by a mob, and four of them were taken away. Another person was recovered by security forces in an injured condition. The five individuals were en route to Leimakhong from Churachandpur.
"Amidst the confrontation between the mob and the security forces, armed miscreants exchanged fire in K. Songkung hill range, Koutruk and Tairenpokpi. Two policemen and seven civilians sustained injuries. The whereabouts of the four remain unknown," read the post.
The incident took place when security forces were carrying out an operation in search of the two Meitei teenagers, Avinash Maibam (16) and Anthony Ningthoujam (19), who went missing on Sunday. The two had gone to the Sekmai area in Imphal West on a two-wheeler before they went missing. Their mobile phones were found in Senapati district.
Organisations representing the Meiteis suspect that the duo were abducted by Kuki insurgents. They launched a protest in the Imphal Valley demanding action against those involved in the incident. Avinash is a class X student of Don Bosco School at Langjing in Imphal West. The students of the school staged a protest on Tuesday morning urging the state government to trace them.
Family members of the two missing teenagers met Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Monday in Imphal seeking her intervention. Manipur police on Monday night said three persons were detained in connection with the case.
Four Kukis abducted:
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), a Kuki organisation on Tuesday evening issued a statement in which it said that four Kukis, two women and two men, were abducted by Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei armed group from near Kangchup Chingkhong village in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district. The ITLF further said a 65-year-old man, identified as Manglun Haokip, was also injured in firing near L Phaijang village. "We fear that the four may have been killed or are being tortured. We fervently request the central security forces to immediately launch an operation to rescue them," ITLF spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said in the statement.
More than 180 people have been killed, and over 60,000 others have been displaced due to the ongoing violence between the Meiteis and the Kukis in Manipur since May. The sporadic violence has persisted despite the presence of a significant number of central security forces, including the army.