Manipur started the new year on a turbulent note, with unidentified armed assailants killing four people, all Pangals (Meitei Muslims), a community that has remained neutral in the ongoing conflict between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos in the state.

Officials said at least 12 people were injured in the Monday evening attack at Lilong Chingjao village in Thoubal district, about 23km from Imphal.

Angry local people set three vehicles on fire.

Sources said the assailants had reached the village around 7.30pm and started indiscriminate firing.

They also said the attack was related to extortion. "They came to extort," a source said.

Like the Nagas, the Meitei Pangals have remained neutral in the ongoing conflict that began on May 3 and has left at least 199 people dead. Lilong is a Pangal-dominated village.

As news of the attack spread, the administration clamped curfew in the Meitei-majority valley districts, including Thoubal, Bishnupur, Kakching, Imphal East and West.

The Pangals make up just over eight per cent of the state's population.

Lilong MLA Md Abdul Nasir told The Telegraph that four people were killed and at least 12 injured, of whom 10 had been shifted to Imphal hospitals.