Two of the four abducted Kukis found dead, central team meets Kuki group

Imphal: Police in conflict-hit Manipur on Thursday said two bodies were found in two separate places, one of them with a bullet wound on her head, in Imphal West and Imphal East district, respectively.

The bodies were suspected to be of those among the four Kukis, who were "forcibly taken away" allegedly by a Meitei mob in Kangpokpi district on Tuesday. The victims were on their way from Churachandpur to Leimakhong in Kangpokpi district (both Kuki-dominated districts) for marriage rituals.

Police said although bodies are suspected to be those of the missing Kukis, they were yet to reach a conclusion.

Police in Imphal East district on Thursday said the body of a woman with a bullet injury on her head was found lying in Atom Khuman village. The body of the suspected Kuki man was found at Puruksoubi Loukon Palli area in Imphal East district on Tuesday night. Two other Kukis, one man and a woman, have still remained traceless.

Manipur police on Tuesday night said a Mahindra Bolero vehicle carrying five Kukis--three men and two women, were stopped by a mob and four of them were "forcibly taken away" in Kangpokpi district while one escaped. The fifth person, 65-year-old father of an army soldier belonging to the Kuki community, was found in seriously injured condition. He was airlifted to Guwahati in Assam but his condition was critical.

At least nine persons, mainly Meiteis, were injured in firing between security forces and "armed miscreants" during the mob gathering on Tuesday. The injured included two police personnel.

The incident followed the alleged abduction of two Meitei teenagers, who went missing on Sunday. Joint Action Committee, a Meitei organisation, on Thursday announced a "shutdown" between midnight of November 9 to 1pm of November 11, in Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley, in protest against the government's alleged failure to trace the two. One of them is a class X student of Don Bosco School.

In a statement on Thursday, Kuki Inpi, Manipur, an apex body of the Kukis claimed that two bodies were those among the four Kuki-Zo persons who were abducted on Tuesday. "Such a bestial act of crime against huminity upon innocent Kuki-Zo civilians by the Meitei remain unabated in the ongoing state-sponsored ethnic cleansing," it said while urging the Centre to take stringent action against those involved in the murders.

Central team meets Kuki group:

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), a Kuki organisation, on Thursday evening said a team of the MHA comprising Mandeep Singh Tuli, joint director (Northeast) of Intelligence Bureau and AK Mishra, the centre's interlocutor, held a meeting in Churachandpur and discussed several issues. The meeting discussed the matters regarding burial of the bodies (Kukis) lying in hospital morgues, the demand for withdrawal of state forces from border town Moreh, the steps taken by the CBI and NIA to provide justice to the Kuki families affected by the violence, beside others. The meeting will continue on Friday, ITLF said.

Manipur has remained on the boil since May due to the clashes between the Meitei and the Kukis. More than 180 persons have been killed and over 60,000 others have been rendered displaced due to the violence.