Woman shot dead outside school in Manipur's Imphal West

Police said eyewitnesses told them that miscreants came on a motorcycle, shot at her and fled.

There seems to be no end to violence in Manipur as a woman was shot dead outside a school at Kwakeithel area in Imphal West district by unidentified miscreants on Thursday morning, giving another jolt to the BJP government's efforts to restore peace in the state.

The woman, who was killed at around 8.30 am, is yet to be identified, police said adding that eyewitnesses told them that miscreants came in a motorcycle, shot at her and fled. "There were very few people in the area at that time. So we are trying to identify the lady's family first to get into the motive behind the attack," a police official said.

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The incident took place a day after schools were reopened after two months in Manipur. There was, however, very thin attendance as violence still continues in some places.

Although police said the deceased woman, aged about 50, was yet to be identified, Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), a Kuki organisation claimed that she was a Kuki and was mentally retarded. The ITLF identified the lady as Donngaihching. "She did not leave Imphal despite the ethnic cleansing as she was mentally ill," the ITLF said in a statement.

The killing of the woman gave another jolt to the government and the security forces trying to end violence in Manipur, which is continuing for more than two months. The security forces on Wednesday launched a drive to dismantle the illegally constructed "bunkers" in Imphal East, Imphal West, Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts, where violence was more compared to other districts.

Four such bunkers were destroyed by the security forces on Wednesday, CM N. Biren Singh said. The "bunkers" were created by both the Meitei and Kuki villagers to "protect" their villages from "armed miscreants," police said.