Fresh violence in Manipur: BSF jawan, 4 police commandos injured in RPG attack

GUWAHATI: Five security personnel - a BSF jawan and four police commandos - were injured in an RPG attack by unidentified armed men in the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh in Manipur's Tengnoupal district on Tuesday.
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said the Kuki National Army, Burma (KNA-B) from across the border is suspected to be behind the attack.
The five men, who were part of a joint security patrol party, have been airlifted to Imphal and admitted to Regional Institute of Medical Sciences. They have been identified as Maibam Thoiba, Chabungbam Herojit, Kamei Gaohemlung, Mangsatabam Premkumar and Rabindra Singh.
Moreh has become the current epicentre of unrest in the state and attacks by unidentified men have left 10 police and security personnel injured since Saturday. Earlier on Sunday, four Manipur Police commandos were injured when their barrack was attacked with RPGs. On Saturday, a unit of the commandos was ambushed on the Imphal-Moreh highway in which one of them sustained splinter injuries.
"We are having some doubts on the involvement of foreign mercenaries from the Myanmar side in the incident. Multiple sources have told us this. The involvement of KNA-B (Kuki National Army, Burma) is highly possible," Singh said.
He added that these foreign mercenaries are using sophisticated weapons and the government will take necessary measures to counter these attacks. Biren further said the state government is in touch with the Centre and operations are being conducted jointly by the state and central security forces. There are also reports of a gunfight in the Chavangphai area of Moreh after two persons, during a search operation, were picked up for allegedly being involved in an attack on police personnel a day before, a security source said.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) and Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) have jointly declared a 24-hour total shutdown in all Kuki-Zo areas from midnight of January 3 till midnight of January 4 in protest against the "atrocities" of the "state forces and to demand their removal from all Kuki-Zo districts in Manipur."
In a joint statement, they said people of Moreh have pleaded with the central government since May to replace state forces with neutral central security forces and that home minister Amit Shah had said on May 31 that all state forces would be removed within three days and once again urged the central government to remove all state forces, especially commandos, from Moreh and the surrounding tribal-majority settlements.
On the other hand, the banned Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), the political wing of People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing of four persons and injuring 10 others in Thoubal district's Meitei minority-dominated Lilong Chingjao area on Monday evening.
The deceased are Md Daulat (30), M Sirajuddin (50), Md Azad Khan (40) and Md Hussain (22).
The RPF issued a statement claiming that the gunmen belonged to the outfit and they were holding an internal inquiry into the incident. Both the organisations are banned under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
According to the statement, RPF cadres on Monday tried to capture a drug lord from Lilong Chingjao when some people in the area stopped them and tried to snatch their weapons. It said RPF cadres tried to disperse the mob by firing in the air but some people started opening fire towards them and they had to retaliate in which the four persons were killed.
After the incident, the police held an inter-faith meeting on Tuesday in the presence of civil society leaders and Lilong MLA Abdul Nasir to ease tension in the area.
Biren on Tuesday visited the families of the four victims of Monday's firing at Lilong and promised to take stringent action against the culprits. The CM also visited the injured persons in Imphal and stated that the government would bear the expenses of their treatment.
In the meanwhile, residents of Lilong Chingjao have submitted a memorandum to the chief minister, seeking ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh to the injured. They also demanded an NIA investigation into the incident.