Four killed as suspected militants ambush cars in Manipur’s Ukhrul

Four people, including two women, were killed when suspected militants opened fire on two cars along NH-2 in Manipur's Ukhrul district. The incident comes amid continuing tensions between Kuki and Naga groups, with a bandh affecting life in Kangpokpi

Imphal: Four people, including two women, were killed in a suspected ambush allegedly carried out by Kuki militants along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2) in Manipur’s Ukhrul district on Friday afternoon, police said.

The incident reportedly took place at New Haven, under the jurisdiction of Litan Police Station in Ukhrul district, which shares an unfenced international border with Myanmar and an inter-State border with Nagaland.

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Security forces, led by senior police officials, rushed to the spot, while the Litan police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspected ambush.

Local media reports said the victims belonged to the Naga community.

A police official in Imphal, quoting local residents, said the two men and two women, who were travelling in two cars, died on the spot after armed militants opened fire on them.

Bullet marks were found on the windshields of both vehicles, he said.

Further details of the incident are awaited.

Meanwhile, normal life was partially affected in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Friday, with shops, markets and business establishments remaining closed following a bandh called by a tribal organisation to protest against the killing of a Kuki woman in a gunfight between two rival groups on Thursday.

Most vehicles, including passenger buses and autorickshaws, remained off the roads, causing considerable inconvenience to commuters.

The Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) called the 48-hour shutdown from midnight on November 12 following the gunfight near Taphou Kuki village on Thursday.

Educational institutions, medical facilities and emergency services were exempted from the bandh.

The COTU demanded the withdrawal of all Central and State security forces, particularly those operating under the command of the Senapati district Superintendent of Police, from the hill areas of Kangpokpi district.

A 42-year-old Kuki woman, identified as Kimneineng Chongloi, was shot dead, while two others were injured during a gunfight between rival armed groups in an area near Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi district and Kailengjang in neighbouring Senapati district on Thursday.

Kuki organisations alleged that cadres of the NSCN-IM and ZUF-K killed the woman while she was working in a paddy field.

At least 50 people have been killed in clashes between Kuki and Naga groups in the hill districts of Manipur since February this year, according to reports.