Terrorists who attacked the police post, were believed to be from the NSCN-IM group. (Representational)
A group around 70 terrorists attacked a police post in Manipur on Saturday, stealing nine automatic weapons and leaving two policemen injured.
According to the officials, the terrorists, believed to be from the NSCN-IM group, surrounded a police post in Nungkao in the Tamenglong district, around 160 km from Imphal, from all sides at around 11:30 am.
A heavy gunbattle followed but the security forces were overpowered by the terrorists. Two police commandos suffered bullet injuries, officials said. They were evacuated and a reinforcement team was sent to the spot.
Last week, suspected NSCN-IM terrorists had ambushed security forces in two different places in the Chandel district killing four policemen.
Saturday's attack came on the day of a dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by civil society groups against the ongoing economic blockade by Naga groups, who are protesting against the formation of seven new districts, and a series of terror strikes.
Amid tight security, shops were closed and streets deserted in capital Imphal. Tensions also flared after stones were thrown by an unidentified group at a Baptist Church frequented by the Naga community.
On Friday night, three low intensity blasts struck a Naga tribe-inhabited area in Imphal though no one was injured. There have been several incidents of firing in all the seven new districts this week.
Unrest in Manipur has seen a sharp rise since Naga tribal groups imposed an economic blockade on the state since November, throttling the supply of daily essentials and even medicines, in protest against the formation of seven new districts.
The groups allege the new districts encroach on the ancestral land of the Nagas.
The increase in terrorists attacks and incidents of violence have also cast shadow on assembly polls due early next year.