Guwahati/Imphal: Gunfire broke out between security personnel and “armed miscreants” at Pallel town in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district early Friday morning, official and defence sources said.
The incident took place at around 7am when the miscreants came in vehicles and opened fire at security forces deployed in the area, local sources said, adding that the site is barely a few hundred metres from the Pallel police station.
The firing occurred despite the deployment of state and central forces, including Manipur Police, Assam Rifles, and Border Security Force in the area. The firing had stopped for sometime, but resumed in the afternoon at Malnoi village near Pallel, a security official said.
The Tengnoupal shooting is the first in the area since the ethnic conflict started in Manipur four months ago. Malnoi is a Kuki-dominated area in Pallel town, which has a mixed population of Kuki, Meitei and Naga communities.
As the news of the firing spread, a large crowd gathered at the site while the Meira Paibis (the Meitei women protesters) blocked the road leading to Pallel, the local sources informed.
An Assam Rifles officer sustained “minor injuries” in “unprovoked firing” at Pallel, a source in the defence establishment said.
Despite several warnings to the swelling crowd, the confrontation escalated, and security personnel resorted to tear gas firing and baton charge, in which Meira Paibis and other agitators were injured.
A local resident told ThePrint that over 40 people, both men and women, were injured, some “grievously”. The injured were taken to a community hall for medical attention while others admitted to the nearest hospitals at Kakching and Imphal, the resident added.
Another local source said that miscreants burned down the Kuraopokpi village near Pallel and some resorted to arson at Malnoi.
The situation remains tense throughout Pallel and adjoining areas. Additional forces have been mobilised and the situation is being monitored, a defence source said.
Later in the day, the Manipur police issued a statement that three of its personnel sustained injuries “during the crowd dispersal”.
The fresh spate in violence comes two days after protesters clashed with security personnel at Phougakchao Ikhai in Bishnupur district on Wednesday as they tried to forcibly reach Torbung.
Local residents said they see “no change in situation” even as the Manipur government has adopted multiple measures, including the appointment of a highly decorated Army Special Forces veteran to the recently created position of Senior Superintendent of Police (Combat), to end the violence. Earlier in August, gunfights in the border areas between Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts had claimed 8 lives and 29 injured.