Two elderly men from the Meitei community were found dead on Tuesday in Manipur’s Jiribam district day after a gunfight between security forces and suspected militants in the area.
During a search operation for missing persons, the bodies of Laishram Balen and Maibam Kesho were detected in debris in Jakuradhor Karong area where a few shops were set on fire by suspected militants on Monday, a senior officer said.
“The two elderly men died after the insurgents torched a few shops in Jakuradhor Karong area,” he said.
Locals said that the two victims were accommodated in a relief camp set up in the police station that was set to provide shelter to residents of nearby villages amid violence in the state.
Meanwhile, officials have launched a search operation to find six people who have been reported missing. The district administration has also 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”.
Eleven 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.
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.
With inputs from PTI
Link to article –
Manipur: Day after Jiribam encounter, 2 Meitei men found dead in homes; 6 missing from relief camp
