Armed forces kill ten ‘militants’ in retaliatory fire in Manipur | India News – Times of India

Security forces on Monday gunned down 10 “armed militants” in Manipur’s Jiribam district in swift retaliation against two CRPF posts that came under attack around 3 p.m. This ended days of attacks by suspected tribal gunmen on civilian targets in one of the flashpoints of the ethnic conflict.
Sanjeev Kumar, a CRPF constable injured in the militant attack, was airlifted to Silchar Medical College in neighboring Assam, while two civilians were “listed” following the ruckus of gunfire from both sides, sources said.
Manipur Police, which has joined the CRPF in the largest counter-offensive against suspected militants in recent months, said three Kalashnikov rifles, four SLR cameras, two INSAS rifles, an RPG, a pump-action rifle, bulletproof helmets and magazines were found next to the militants’ bodies.
The Kuki-Zo tribal council disputed the casualty figure quoted by police, saying that “about 11 village volunteers died at the hands of CRPF personnel”. It declared a total lockdown in the area from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday “in honor of the victims and to express our collective grief and solidarity for those who were brutally shot dead.” The Hmar student association also denounced what it claimed was “the brutal murder of eleven village volunteers in Hmar”.
The 11 were captured, rounded up and shot: Hmar student outfit
Till late Monday, a security operation was underway near Jakuradhor and Borobekra police stations, to which CRPF posts were attached. Reinforcements from the Assam Rifles, CRPF and police have been sent to the site, officials said.
The Hmar association said the “11 village volunteers” killed in the CRPF police offensive were from Jakhradawr in Jiribam. “They were captured, rounded up and killed by combined forces under the influence of Meitei militants. This premeditated massacre of Hmar village volunteers who were protecting their villages is an alarming escalation of the ongoing conflict in Manipur, specifically targeting the Hmar community.”
The statement demanded a CBI probe and immediate withdrawal of CRPF and Manipur Police from the area.
The administration has enforced prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS in the district.
Last Thursday, a 31-year-old tribal woman was reportedly raped by armed invaders and burned alive in her home in Jiribam village in Zairon Hmar. Two days later, a woman working in a rice field was shot in the neighboring Bishnupur district. Suspected militants again attacked farmers in Imphal East on Sunday. Manipur has been in the grip of ethnic violence since May 2023, with an official death toll of more than 230.
(With inputs from Delhi)