13 militants arrested in Manipur during joint operations

Security forces arrested 13 militants belonging to various banned outfits during joint operations across five Manipur districts in the past 24 hours. They also recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition and destroyed three illegally constructed bunkers in Senapati district

Imphal: Security forces, in separate joint operations conducted across different Manipur districts, have arrested 13 militants belonging to various banned outfits, including six cadres of the United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK), during the past 24 hours, officials said here on Wednesday.

Security forces also recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from different districts, including Chandel district, which shares an unfenced border with Myanmar.

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A police spokesman said that the 13 militants were apprehended in Bishnupur, Imphal West, Imphal East, Chandel, and Kakching districts during coordinated operations conducted by the Manipur Police, Assam Rifles and other Central forces.

The arrested militants belong to the banned People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing, the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), the Socialist Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (SOREPA), the UPPK, and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK).

According to the spokesman, the arrested militants were reportedly involved in various crimes and illegal activities, including attacks on people, kidnapping, forcible collection of “subscriptions” and recruitment of youths into the banned outfits.

Some arms and ammunition, incriminating documents, a few cars, several two-wheelers, subscription receipts and other secret documents were recovered from the arrested militants.

The arms and ammunition recovered included a foreign-made MP-09 rifle, a CMG along with one magazine, a modified .303 rifle along with one magazine, an INSAS rifle with one magazine, seven pistols of different calibres along with a magazine each, eight single-barrel guns, 14 12-bore guns, a double-barrel gun, a Pompi gun, a functional rocket, two hand grenades, a mortar bomb, two land mines, an improvised fragmentation mine, four detonators and a large cache of live bullets.

The security forces also destroyed three illegally constructed bunkers in Taphou Kuki and Taphou Liangmai villages in Senapati district.

A CRPF jawan was injured in a gunfight between two groups on Monday and at least two houses were torched at the same Taphou village, triggering protests and a blockade on National Highway-2, officials said.

A police official said that the fresh violence was reported in Taphou village amid heightened tensions between the Naga and Kuki tribal communities.

Meanwhile, security forces comprising the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and the Manipur Police have continued extensive counter-insurgency operations, including search operations and area-domination exercises, in fringe, mixed-population and other vulnerable areas across the state. As part of the intensified security measures, 111 nakas and checkpoints have been set up across the valley and hill districts to monitor the movement of militants, anti-social elements and suspicious vehicles.

The security forces have also been providing armed escorts to trucks and other vehicles carrying essential commodities along the strategically important Imphal-Jiribam National Highway (NH-37). Strict security arrangements and convoy protection continue to remain in place along vulnerable stretches of the highway to ensure the safe and uninterrupted movement of passenger and goods vehicles, the officials said.