The Manipur administration on Saturday flew additional security personnel to arson-hit Jiribam district in Manipur and transferred the district police chief following the late-night arson.

The volatile situation triggered by the killing of a Meitei man on Thursday saw the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a leading valley-based civil society organisation, question why the Centre has “allowed such a dire conflict to persist unchecked for so long”.

Newly-elected Congress MP A. Bimol Akoijam blamed people inimical to the interests of Manipur for the incident and urged fellow Manipuris to be careful while expressing their opinions on social media.

Officials told The Telegraph that armed attackers targetted Meitei villages along with the Jirimukh police outpost, Chotobekra police check post, Jirimukh forest beat office under Borobekra subdivision, which the COCOMI said was “one of the last peaceful areas of Manipur where Thadou, Hmar, Paite, Kabui, Zeliangrong, Meetei Pangal and Meetei communities have coexisted” during the ethnic strife between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo communities.

Reports from Imphal said about 70 houses and government properties have been torched/destroyed. However, a government official said about sixteen houses belonging to both Meitei and Paites (Zo community) were burnt on Thursday night following the recovery of the body of 59-year-old Soibam Sharatkumar, triggering the arson.

“Again on Saturday, between 2am and 3am, armed miscreants targetted Meitei villages in the Borobekra subdivision bordering Pherzawl district and burnt down about 10-16 houses/properties...We don’t have the exact numbers yet,” he said.

“However, people from the affected areas had left for Jiribam before the arson took place. Around 260 Meiteis have been taking shelter in the Jiribam sports complex since Friday. On Friday, around 16 Paites were also rescued and given shelter by security forces,” the official said.

On Saturday, around 100 police commandos and senior officials were airlifted in an MI-17 chopper to Jiribam from Imphal, about 220km by road, and deployed immediately in vulnerable pockets, officials said.

Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey met chief minister N. Biren Singh at Manipur Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday and took stock of the situation. He asked him to take all steps to control the situation, officials said.