Two commandos killed in Manipur gunfight

Guwahati: Two Manipur Police commondos were killed and two others injured after suspected armed militants attacked them in Moreh on Wednesday morning.

In a social media post, Manipur Police said armed militants attacked the state forces with firearms and explosives early morning killing Wangkhem Somorjit Meetei (32) and Takhellambam Saileshwore from Lamshang. The injured were airlifted to Imphal for treatment.

Sources said a gunfight followed the attack at some other locations as the security forces launched a manhunt for those involved in the attack on the police camp near SBI, Moreh.

Moreh is a Kuki-dominated town situated in Tengnoupal district and shares a border with with Myanmar.

Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a forum of Kuki organisations, in the evening, claimed that at least 17 houses belonging to Kuki residents and two schools were burnt down by armed miscreants belonging to the Meitei community, after the attack.

Fearing further escalation, the Manipur home department wrote to MHA seeking helicopters for airlifting the injured as well as reinforcements and ammunition to Moreh.

The fresh gunfight took place amid a curfew imposed by the Tengnoupal district administration following the arrest of two Kuki men on Monday. The two local Kuki leaders, Philip Khaikholai Khongsai and Hemkholai Mate, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Chingtham Anand Kumar, in Moreh on October 31. They were produced in a court and remanded to nine-day police custody.

Kuki organisations like ITLF and Committee on Tribal Unity claimed that the two arrested persons were detained while they joined a group of women protesting against the construction of a new commando outpost at Chikim village in Moreh on Monday.