Bodies of 2 Meitie men recovered from gunfight site in Manipur

Imphal: At the spot where a gunfight happened between suspected militants and security forces in Manipur, the bodies of two elderly men from the Meitei community were recovered on Tuesday. The spot in Jiribam district witnessed the gunfight a day ago, PTI reported.

Operations are underway to trace three women and three children, who have been reported missing since the violence erupted in Jiribam on Monday, IGP (operations) I K Muivah said.

The bodies of the two men - Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho - were detected in debris during a search operation in the Jakuradhor Karong area where a few shops were set on fire by suspected militants on Monday, another senior officer said.

"The two elderly men belonging to the Meitei community died after the insurgents torched a few shops in the Jakuradhor Karong area," he said.

The officer said the Jiribam district administration imposed prohibitory orders to avoid any untoward incident in the area.

A shutdown has been observed since 5 am on Tuesday in Kuki-Zo majority areas in the hills to protest against the killing of suspected insurgents in a gunfight with security personnel, another police officer said.

The Kuki-Zo Council called for a total shutdown in the hill areas of the state from 5 am to 6 pm on Tuesday to express their "collective grief and solidarity who were brutally shot dead".

The police had said ten suspected militants were killed in the fierce gunfight with security forces on Monday after insurgents in camouflage uniforms, armed with sophisticated weapons, fired indiscriminately at a police station and an adjacent CRPF camp in Jiribam district. However, a senior officer had put the toll at 11.

Two CRPF personnel also sustained injuries during the heavy exchange of fire at Borobekra, and the condition of one of them was stated to be critical, another officer said.