One killed, three injured as Meitei mob again loot weapons in Manipur, ITLF says 200 weapons looted

Guwahati: One armed miscreant belonging to the Meitei community was killed and three others were injured in a gunfight with security forces when a mob allegedly looted weapons from an IRB camp and tried to storm into a police camp in Imphal East district of conflict-hit Manipur on Tuesday night.

At around 10pm on Wednesday, Manipur police said six persons were arrested in connection with the looting of weapons by an "unruly mob" on Tuesday night from the 5th IRB camp at Chingarel area. Police said four INSAS rifles, one AK Ghatak rifle, magazines of SLR and 16 small boxes of ammunition, which were allegedly looted by the mob, were also recovered.

Police further said one person died and three others were injured as security forces opened fire to repel violent mob including armed miscreants trying to storm into Manipur Police Training Centre (MPTC) at Pangei in Imphal East, a Meitei dominated district. 

Although police did not mention the number of weapons looted from the IRB camp, Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), a forum of Kuki organisations, on Wednesday claimed that miscreants belonging to the Meitei community looted nearly 200 weapons and 20,000 ammunition.  

The group also said that a "village volunteer" belonging to the Kuki community, was killed by the Meitei miscreants in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district and a BSF jawan was killed in firing during another attempt to loot weapons from the MPTC. But police did not talk about the death of the Kuki youth as claimed by the ITLF.

The ITLF also said power lines were sabotaged by the Meitei radical group disrupting electricity supply to Saikul sub-division in Kangpokpi. Meitei miscreants similarly destroyed the lone power line supplying electricity to Lamka (Churachandpur) and Pherzawl districts earlier this month, said a statement issued by ITLF spokesperson, Ginza Vualzong. 

"Almost a week now, Meitei militants have attacked tribal settlements daily near the buffer zones that separate Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts, resulting in deaths and injuries to both Kuki-Zo tribals and Meiteis. Yesterday’s multipronged attack on different areas of Kangpokpi’s Saikul subdivision resulted in the death of a tribal village volunteer, Demkhogin Khongsai," said the statement.

"The incident of the arms looting on Tuesday night is reminiscent of what happened last year when thousands of guns and lakhs of ammunition from state armories were handed over to mobs in the valley," it said.

In a social media post on Tuesday evening, Manipur police only said that a JCO of army was injured during a gunfight in Imphal East district on Tuesday. 

Sources said a Meitei "village volunteer" was killed during a gunfight with Kuki armed men on Tuesday along the Imphal East and Kangpokpi district. 

More than 200 people have been killed and several others injured due to the violence between the Meiteis and the Kuki communities since May last year.

The sporadic firing incidents have kept the state tense despite efforts by the government to restore peace. Security forces earlier said more than 4,000 weapons were allegedly looted by Meitei miscreants and a large number of those have still remained traceless.