“The incident took place in the morning when unidentified men gunned down three civilians in an area between Ireng and Karam Vaiphei,” the official said. Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), a Kangpokpi-based civil society organisation, condemned the attack.
“If the Union government is serious about its appeal for restoration of normalcy, it must immediately declare all the valley districts as disturbed areas and impose Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958,” COTU said in a statement. The incident comes close on the heels of the violence that broke out at Pallel in Tengnoupal district in which three persons were killed and over 50 injured on September 8.
More than 160 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts. (PTI)