Manipur: Suspected Kuki militants attack Meitei villages in Imphal East district using bombs and firearms

Imphal: Suspected Kuki terrorists relaunched attacks on Meitei villages in Manipur on December 27. Media reports suggest that this time, the attack has worsened leading to villagers of Thamnapokpi, fleeing their homes in Kangpokpi district of the violence-hit state.

One social media user from the area wrote, “This is another evidence that the Manipur violence, isn’t a ‘conflict’ but a clear act of Kuki aggression on Manipur, on the villagers and villages of Meitei community.”

Another user said that Manipur continues to ‘boil’ because of the Kuki politics of using ‘Engineered violence’, to advance their political goal of separate administration in the state.

Local sources said that armed Kuki militants launched attacks from the hilltops of Kangpokpi district on 27th December. The militants were targeting peripheral areas including Sanasabi and Thamnapokpi in the nearby Imphal East district continuously firing from long range automatic weapons.   The violence has  escalated in the area  since Christmas eve where the Kuki militants are targeting the Meitei villages .

Villagers who had fled their homes after the deadly attacks by suspected Kuki militants are taking refuge in government shelter houses. They said that the attackers fired bullets and also used long range bomb launchers toward valley regions such as Thamnapokpi, Shantikhongbal, Sabungkhok, Khunou Sanasabi, and Sinam Kom village under Imphal East district. No reports of any injury have been reported so far. But people are scared and fled their homes since the attack started in the wee hours of December 27. Police sources said that security forces had rushed to the area. The firing has been stopped after additional security personnel reach the spot. But the villagers are afraid that the Kuki militants will restart the attack once the security force leaves the area.