Imphal: A fresh spate of violence rocked Manipur on Wednesday as a rabid mob reportedly attacked a transit camp of security forces near Moreh—a town bordering Myanmar, resulting in a gunfight between the forces’ personnel and the unidentified gunmen.
According to reports, a violent mob set ablaze at least 30 houses and shops in the border town of Moreh in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district on Wednesday and exchanged gunfire with security forces.
The abandoned houses were in the Moreh Bazar area close to the Myanmar border, news agency PTI reported. Following the arson, a gun battle also broke out between the attackers and security forces, officials said adding that it is not yet clear whether there was any casualty.
Buses set ablaze in Kangpokpi
The fresh incident of violence came a day after two buses used by security forces to transport personnel were set on fire by a mob in Kangpokpi district, the officials said.
The incident occurred at Sapormeina when the buses were coming from Dimapur on Tuesday evening. No casualty was reported.
According to officials, locals halted the buses bearing Manipur registration numbers at Sapormeina and insisted that they would check if any member of another community were on board.
Some of them set the buses on fire, they said.
Temporary shelters nearing completion
Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said construction of temporary houses at Sajiwa in Imphal and Yaithibi Loukol in Thoubal district is nearing completion.
“Very soon, families from relief camps will be able to move into these homes. The state government is taking up all possible measures to rehabilitate the people affected by the recent violence, both in the hills and the valley,” Singh said in a Twitter post.
The chief minister had last month said that his government will build 3,000-4,000 pre-fabricated houses to accommodate people who had to flee from their houses because of ethnic strife in the northeastern state.
Ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state nearly three months ago, killing over 160 people since then, and injuring hundreds.
The violence erupted on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The Manipur violence
After a brief lull, the violence flared up again in the north-eastern state on July 19 after a horrifying video showing two women, reportedly belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribe, being paraded naked on the road by a group of men, emerged on social media. The purported video was reportedly shot on May 4 and one of the women was allegedly gang-raped in a nearby paddy field.
A few days later, a similar incident came to the fore wherein two tribal women were allegedly abducted, gang-raped and murdered on the same day when the aforementioned horrifying video of two women being paraded naked by a mob of men, was reportedly filmed.
According to reports, in the second incident, the two women who worked at a carwash in Imphal were raped and murdered on May 4, same day when two other women were stripped naked and paraded on roads on the other side of the north-eastern state.
The two victims, aged 21 and 24, were residents of Kangpokpi district of Manipur and used to work at a carwash facility in state capital Imphal, India Today reported. On the fateful day of May 4, they were allegedly abducted from their workplace by a mob, gangraped and then killed, the report said.
According to the report, the mother of one of the victims lodged a complaint on May 5 at the Saikul Police Station, but the cops registered the FIR after nearly two weeks on May 16.
(With PTI inputs)
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