More violence in Manipur: Four killed, several injured in firing after mob storms CRPF camp in protest, CM holds all-party meeting

Guwahati: The Valley districts of Manipur was back in turmoil on Tuesday after two children of a BSF jawan were killed in their sleep in a bomb attack, leading to a violent protest during which two more persons were killed and five injured when security forces fired on the agitators.

Police said the bomb attack around 1 am, allegedly by the Kukis, targeted the house of Mangalngamba Oinam, a BSF jawan posted in Bihar, at Tronglaobi village in the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district. It killed the jawan's five-year-old son and a five-month baby daughter on the spot while leaving his wife seriously injured. The Kuki forums, however, denied their involvement in the attack.

According to local residents, a suspected projectile struck the house, causing a powerful explosion that instantly claimed the lives of the two children. The blast damaged the house and left nearby residents in a state of shock.

Bishnupur shares a boundary with Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district and has remained under the watch of security forces since the Meitei-Kuki conflict started in May 2023. The killing of the children angered locals, who tried to storm the Moirang police station and also set fire to several vehicles belonging to a CRPF camp at Moirang.

As the protest turned violent, the CRPF personnel opened fire in which seven people were wounded. Two of them succumbed to their injuries, Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh told reporters in the state capital Imphal.

The protesters suspected the involvement of Kukis and questioned why the forces failed to protect the civilians.

As the situation remained volatile, the administration suspended the internet for three days in the five Valley districts: Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching, Thoubal and Bishnupur. Curfew was also clamped in some areas and additional forces rushed.

The state's new chief minister, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who took charge on February 4, quickly decided to hand over the case related to the death of the children to the NIA and appealed to protesters to "remain calm and not to give in to emotions". Singh held a meeting with the MLAs and the security top brass, during which orders were issued for a combing operation in search of the assailants.

The Kuki Zo Council (KZC) and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), two influential forums of Kuki civil society organisations, denied the allegations about the involvement of Kukis in the bomb attack. "With buffer zones strictly guarded by security forces, it is highly implausible for any Kuki-Zo individual to infiltrate and carry out such an attack within the interior of Meitei localities," the KZC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CM Singh held an all-party meeting in Imphal on Tuesday evening in which it was decided to appeal to the public to stop violent protest and destruction of properties.

The fresh attack came as a setback to the chief minister's efforts to end the conflict through talks with both the communities. Singh recently met leaders of the KZC in Guwahati. The government is also trying to resettle the people displaced by the conflict. But the Kuki groups have insisted that the resettlement should be kept in abeyance till a political solution is reached by forming a "Union Territory" comprising the Kuki-dominated districts.