Man Shot Dead In Manipur's Jiribam Amid Tension Over Killing Of Women, Children

A protester was shot dead during a clash between security forces and a mob in Manipur's violence-hit Jiribam district, officials said Monday. A police official in Imphal said a young man, identified as K Athouba, was killed in an exchange of gunfire Sunday night.

It is unclear who fired the bullet that killed the 21-year-old.

However, protesters have claimed Manipur Police special commandos had fired their weapons to disperse the mob, and that Athouba was killed in the firing and two others were injured.

A police official countered, saying the mob had attacked and vandalised properties of various leaders' houses and political party offices Sunday night. The official said the mob first vandalised properties carried out arson attacks in areas under the Jiribam Police jurisdiction.

They were protesting the killing of three women and three children on November 11.

There was violence on Saturday too; a mob protested outside the homes of at least two ministers, including Health and Family Welfare Minister Sapam Ranjan, and three MLAs in state capital Imphal, officials said.

This was hours after the cops found the six bodies - five days after the women and children from the Meitei community were taken hostage by suspected Kuki insurgents. Top sources in the Manipur government told NDTV the bodies were found in neighbouring Assam.

The Assam Police are on high alert in the area.

The women and children were taken hostage by a group of suspected Kuki insurgents from Jiribam's Bokobera neighbourhood while another group of insurgents were engaged in a gunfight with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), sources have said.

Ten of the suspected Kuki militants were shot dead in the encounter.

A group of people from the Kuki tribes surrounded SMCH and began a protest to block the transport of the 10 bodies kept in the morgue. They claimed the 10 Kuki men killed in the encounter were "village volunteers".

The protesters this morning blocked policemen who tried to take the 10 bodies out of the hospital for transport to Manipur's Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. The Kukis want the bodies to be handed over to them in Silchar, from where they plan to take the body towards neighbouring Mizoram.

Fighting broke out in the northeastern state more than a year ago between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community. The conflict has simmered since then, splitting previously cohabitating communities along ethnic lines.