Manipur insurgent groups modify some looted arms into sniper rifles

Ethnic insurgents in Manipur from Meitei and Kuki groups are modifying looted police weapons, including rifles, into makeshift sniper guns. Security forces have seized hundreds of these from multiple districts, averting a deadly shift to long-range community-targeted violence

New Delhi/Imphal: Manipur’s ethnic insurgent groups from both the Meitei and Kuki communities are modifying weapons, many of them looted from police armouries in 2023, and converting them into makeshift sniper rifles to increase their range and lethality, officials said on Sunday.

They said the weapons have been converted into makeshift sniper rifles to target opposing communities. Among over 6,000 weapons looted from police armouries were .303 rifles, AK assault rifles and INSAS rifles and carbines.

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The standard .303 rifle has an effective kill range of about 500 metres, the officials said, adding that after modifying the butt of the gun and placing a specialised telescope with other specifications, the round from the same rifle can travel much further, with more accuracy and lethality.

The AK-47 is most effective within 300-400 metres only. These modifications suggest that the groups wanted to engage in long-distance combat, but before they could pose a new challenge to security forces, the police, along with the Assam Rifles and other paramilitary forces, confiscated these weapons from various districts of the Imphal valley and hills.

In June, Manipur Police and other security forces recovered 328 weapons during simultaneous operations across five districts of the Imphal Valley on the intervening night of June 13 and 14 from Meitei dominated insurgent groups and 203 arms in first week of July from four districts in the hill areas where Kuki insurgent groups have an upper hand.

The weapons recovered from these two raids included INSAS rifles, AK series rifles, Self Loading Rifle, modified sniper rifles, grenade launchers, pistols and country-made 0.22 rifle.

Immediately after clashes broke out in 2023 between the two communities that have claimed 260 lives so far, security agencies had seized guns fabricated from parts of uprooted electric poles or galvanised iron (GI) pipes.

After the clashes turned bloodier in June 2023, the people of the hill district, who are traditionally hunters and have the ability to improvise and make deadly weapons, uprooted some electric poles and water pipes.

This community traditionally used swords, spears, bows and arrows. Later, they started using muzzle guns and bullets also known as ‘Thihnang’. The uprooted electric poles were used to manufacture indigenous cannon, also known as ‘pumpi’ or ‘bampi’, filled with scrap iron and other metallic items, which act as bullets or pellets.

These are manufactured by village blacksmiths, also known as ‘Thih-Kheng Pa’, who often render free service to defend their community, the officials said. The hill community is also known for its techniques in guerrilla warfare and often defends itself by carrying out sudden attacks on approaching people or ambushing them by rolling down huge stones in steep areas.

The electric pole converted ‘bampi’ is given an electric charge and is operated from a distance as the possibility of the pipe or the electric pole bursting in the middle cannot be ruled out, the officials said.