Ten suspected Kuki-Zo militants were killed by security forces on Monday afternoon during an attack on a police station and a nearby CRPF post in Manipur’s Jiribam district, which has been on the edge since Thursday night’s arson in a Hmar village.

A police statement said the Borobekra police station and Jakuradhor CRPF post came under attack from “armed militants” around 3pm.

“The attack was fiercely retaliated by the CRPF and civil police. After about 40-45 minutes of heavy exchange of fire, the situation was brought under control,” the statement said.

After the firing stopped, the area was searched and the bodies of 10 militants were recovered along with weapons including three AK-series rifles, four self-loading rifles, two Insas rifles, an RPG, a pump-action gun, bullet-proof helmets and magazines, the police said.

A CRPF constable, Sanjeev Kumar, suffered a bullet injury and has been taken to Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam.

Operations in and around Jakuradhor to flush out militants continued into the night. The Assam Rifles, CRPF and the police have sent reinforcements, the police said.

Borobekra police station is about 27km from district headquarters Jiribam. The district administration has imposed a curfew.

An armed group had targeted the police station on October 19 as a “warning attack” a day after Hmar Village Volunteers from the Pherzawl and Jiribam districts had issued a “stern warning to all Meiteis, police, IRB and even central forces….”

The warning asked them “to leave the place and move to Jiribam town today (October 18) itself... before sunset if you really value your lives”, and said they would be solely responsible for any eventuality if they failed to comply.

The police did not identify the dead militants but the Kuki-Zo Council said in a statement that the community had “lost 11 Kuki-Zo Village Volunteers in the hands of CRPF personnel” in Jiribam.

It called for a total shutdown from 5am to 6pm on Tuesday “in honour of the victims and to express our collective grief and solidarity”.

Kuki-Zo organisations say that the village volunteers have been defending their villages from attacks by Meitei militants and other mischief-makers since the outbreak of the ethnic conflict on May 3 last year.

“The loss of our precious Kuki-Zo lives is not only a devastating blow to the families, but to the entire Kuki-Zo Community who stand united in our pursuit of peace, justice and security,” the Kuki-Zo council said.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the violence that took place today and call for immediate and thorough investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Some Kuki-Zo organisations claimed that 11 people from the community had been killed during the encounter.

A Kuki-Zo organisation, the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), said it would like to “rectify” the “narrative” surrounding the incident.

It said the Village Volunteers had learnt that “a group of 50 members of armed Meitei militia, the Arambai Tenggol who were responsible” for the November 7 arson in Zairawn village, had taken “shelter at the police station at Jiribam”.

“…The Kuki-Zo Village Volunteers pressed upon themselves to sanitise the areas when they learnt these armed Meitei militants took shelter at the police station at Jiribam,” it said.

“However, the Committee is baffled why the CRPF needs to retaliate when they know that the Kuki-Zo community have never trained their guns towards any central security forces... in the ensuing conflict,” it added.

“Furthermore, the Committee on Tribal Unity reiterate our stance that the Kuki-Zo community are never against the Central Security Forces… but, with this recent incident… the Kuki-Zo community needs to introspect and reconsider our notion on their neutrality.”

The COTU called for a 24-hour shutdown in Kangpokpi areas from Monday midnight as a “mark of respect for our fallen bravehearts and to show our resentment against the Central security forces”.

Jiribam district, which was peaceful till May this year, has been tense since Thursday night after suspected Meitei militants torched 17 houses and killed a Hmar woman ina village.

Firings

An official said there was a spurt in firing in adjoining Meitei and Kuki areas in several districts, including Imphal West, Imphal East and Bishnupur.

The attacks particularly targeted farmers working in their fields on the foothills in the Meitei-majority valley districts, the official said.

The harvesting season is on and farmers in the valley districts are particularly vulnerable to firing from the hill side, an Imphal resident said. “They are sitting ducks.”

On Saturday, a Meitei woman farmer working in her field in Bishnupur was killed in firing from the neighbouring Kuki-Zo-majority district of Churachandpur.

A day later, an army jawan in Imphal East was injured in firing that came fromKangpokpi district. Monday witnessed shooting in the peripheral areas of several districts, with a Tangkhul farmer injured in Imphal East district.

Two Tangkhul student unions have declared a “total shutdown” of the Ukhrul-Imphal road from Monday midnight till the situation “is properly addressed and justice is served”.