Ten suspected Kuki militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Monday, the state police said in a statement.
A Central Reserve Police Force officer, identified as Sanjeev Kumar, was also injured during the exchange of fire and was taken to Silchar Medical College in Assam.
The gunfight began after the suspected militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force post at about 3 pm in Jakuradhar in the Borobekra sub-division, according to the police.
“The attack was fiercely retaliated by CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] and Civil Police,” the police said. “After 40-45 minutes of heavy exchange of fire, the situation was brought under control.”
After the firing stopped, the 10 bodies of the militants were recovered, along with arms and ammunition, the statement said. “Accordingly, a criminal case has been registered and is being investigated into.”
The district magistrate issued prohibitory orders in Jiribam after the attack.
The gunfight resulted in the highest number of suspected militants killed in a single day this year. Last year, 13 suspected Meitei militants were killed close to the Indo-Myanmar border in the state’s Tengnoupal district.
Following the attack on Monday, the Hmar Students’ Association, a group representing the Hmar community, said that the 10 persons who were killed were village volunteers.
The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May 2023. At least 237 persons have died and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the violence began.
In a statement, the Hmar Students’ Association claimed that the “village volunteers” were “brutally ambushed, captured, huddled together and murdered by combined forces of the CRPF and the Manipur Police under the influence of Meitei militants”.
The group called for “immediate action and accountability”.
The Kuki-Zo Council also condemned the killing of the 10 “village volunteers” and announced a “total shutdown” from 5 am to 6 pm on Tuesday “in honour of the victims and to express our collective grief and solidarity who were brutally shot dead”.
In a statement, the council demanded an immediate investigation “to bring the perpetrators to justice”.
The development on Monday came after a woman was killed allegedly by members of the armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol in Zairon Hmar village in Jiribam on November 7.
The woman, identified as Zosangkim, belonged to the Hmar community and worked as a teacher at a Christian missionary school in the Zairon Hmar village.
The militants also allegedly attacked other residents and set fire to at least six homes in the village.
On Saturday, a woman farmer from the Meitei community was shot dead by suspected Kuki militants in Bishnupur district. The woman, along with other farmers, had been working in paddy fields in the Saiton area when militants opened fire from hill-based positions.
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