IMPHAL: A father-son pair was among three farmers fatally shot by suspected militants while tilling their fields in a village of Manipur’s Bishnupur around 4.30pm on Thursday, stretching a sequence of violence that started early Wednesday with two police commandos being killed in Moreh and a village defence volunteer later dying in a gunfight in Kangpokpi.
Oinam Bamoijao (61), his son Oinam Manitomba (35) and Thiyam Somen (54) were apparently easy targets in the open once the armed militants had them in their sights, police said.
The latest killings coincided with a rally by women in Imphal to protest the death of the village volunteer, identified as Takhellambam Manoranjan (26), while trying to resist a militant attack the previous night from the Kangchup foothills overlooking the valley. Another village guard was wounded.
The armed group had opened fire from the hills of Kangpokpi towards villages in Imphal West around 11pm.
In Thoubal district, three BSF troopers were wounded when unidentified gunmen fired at them late Wednesday. An indefinite curfew was clamped in the district after a mob targeted the 3rd India Reserve Battalion (IRB) headquarters at Khangabok. Security forces chased away the mob with “minimum” use of force, police said. The wounded BSF personnel, two of them ASIs, are being treated in a private hospital in Imphal.
Moreh, where police commandos Takhellambam Saileshwor of the 1st IRB and Wangkhem Somorjit Meitei of Manipur Rifles‘ 6 Bn died in coordinated militant attacks on security outposts from around 9am on Wednesday, reported a second wave of firing and bombing late in the night that left three more IRB commandos wounded. One of the injured was evacuated to Imphal on Thursday.
Pressure mounted on the Centre from protesters in the valley, mainly women’s organisations, to hand over charge of the unified command for security back to CM N Biren Singh.
Oinam Bamoijao (61), his son Oinam Manitomba (35) and Thiyam Somen (54) were apparently easy targets in the open once the armed militants had them in their sights, police said.
The latest killings coincided with a rally by women in Imphal to protest the death of the village volunteer, identified as Takhellambam Manoranjan (26), while trying to resist a militant attack the previous night from the Kangchup foothills overlooking the valley. Another village guard was wounded.
The armed group had opened fire from the hills of Kangpokpi towards villages in Imphal West around 11pm.
In Thoubal district, three BSF troopers were wounded when unidentified gunmen fired at them late Wednesday. An indefinite curfew was clamped in the district after a mob targeted the 3rd India Reserve Battalion (IRB) headquarters at Khangabok. Security forces chased away the mob with “minimum” use of force, police said. The wounded BSF personnel, two of them ASIs, are being treated in a private hospital in Imphal.
Moreh, where police commandos Takhellambam Saileshwor of the 1st IRB and Wangkhem Somorjit Meitei of Manipur Rifles‘ 6 Bn died in coordinated militant attacks on security outposts from around 9am on Wednesday, reported a second wave of firing and bombing late in the night that left three more IRB commandos wounded. One of the injured was evacuated to Imphal on Thursday.
Pressure mounted on the Centre from protesters in the valley, mainly women’s organisations, to hand over charge of the unified command for security back to CM N Biren Singh.