Digital Desk |
Imphal, Nov 12 (IANS) A Kuki woman was shot dead while a man was injured in an exchange of fire between suspected rival militant groups near the Kuki Taphou village along the border of Manipur’s Kangpokpi and Senapati districts on Thursday, triggering tension in the area, officials said.
A police official said that the violent incident prompted advisories against non-essential travel along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2).
The gunfight broke out in an area between Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi and Kailengjang in neighbouring Senapati.
According to a Kuki organisation, the slain woman, identified as Kimneineng Chongloi (41), mother of a 4-year-old boy from Taphou Kuki village, was killed by the NSCN-IM and ZUF-K while she was working in a paddy field.
According to preliminary reports, Kuki militants allegedly opened fire on Naga cultivators working in the area, triggering retaliatory firing. The victim was reportedly holding a sickle in her hand when her body was recovered by local residents and security personnel.
A man who sustained injuries in the incident was shifted to a private hospital in Kangpokpi district for treatment.
Security forces rushed to the area to contain the situation and prevent further escalation.
The incident occurred amid protests by the Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), which organised a sit-in demonstration at the district headquarters over what it described as an unsatisfactory response to its charter of demands following the recent abduction and killing of two Kuki-Zo youths from Taphou Kuki village.
COTU has demanded that Taphou Kuki village be brought under the jurisdiction of Kangpokpi district police instead of the existing Senapati district police station.
The two Kuki youths, who went missing from the vicinity of Taphou Kuki village on October 28, were found dead in neighbouring Senapati district on November 1. Their killing had triggered widespread resentment, prompting COTU to call a total shutdown in Kangpokpi district.
Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Monday had said that the state government has handed over the case relating to the killing of two Kuki youths to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for investigation.
The two Kuki youths — identified as Tinginlun Chongloi, 21, and Paoginlal Hangshing, 20 — went missing from Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi on the evening of October 28. Allegedly abducted by unidentified attackers, their bodies were subsequently recovered from Senapati during a joint search operation by the Central and state security forces.
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