Over 60,000 central forces have been deployed in Manipur (File)
Fresh violence broke out following an attack in a Kuki village in Manipur's Ukhrul district this morning.
Three people were killed in the attack on a makeshift bunker near village Thawai. They were guarding the village amid tensions following the Kuki-Meitei ethnic clashes in Manipur that started on May 3.
Two of the three people have multiple bullet wounds, while the third's body was found mutilated after being shot dead, sources said.
Some 50 families live in village Thawai, under Litan police station limits in Ukhrul, where the Tangkhul Nagas are the majority.
Village Thawai is surrounded by other Kuki settlements like Sangkai, Mongkot and Zalenbung, and the Tangkhul Naga village of Sikibung.
A Thawai resident said the bunker was set up about 1 km from their village. He said there were four volunteers on duty. They followed a roster system that decided the schedule of guard duties. The men who were killed were supposed to stay till 5 am.
Reports said around the end of their guard duty time, one of the four men went to the village to look for replacements.
"We heard gunfire just when he reached the village. We rushed towards the bunker," the Thawai resident said, asking not to be identified.
He said the Kuki village defence volunteers retaliated, and the gunfight lasted for over an hour.
The bodies of the men who were killed inside the bunker have been handed over to their families.
Reports said suspected insurgents have fired grenades towards the Kuki village.