Gunfight ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s Manipur visit; 2 apprehended

A group of armed militants attacked police at Phaiton village in Tamenglong district of Manipur on Monday, a few hours before the arrival of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in the violence-hit state.

Phaiton in Tamenglong district is a bordering village of Jiribam district’s Gularthol village, which is about 6-7 kilometres away from the Jiribam police station.

According to the Jiribam police, a piece of information was received at around 3am on Monday that a police outpost established at Phaiton village had been set on fire by some unknown miscreants. Acting on the information, the district police along with a fire tender team rushed to the spot. However, armed miscreants who were already stationed at Phaiton village opened fire towards the forces. The forces also retaliated from inside the Casspir. The armed miscreants used lathode bombs against the forces. The exchange of fire continued for several minutes.

A combined team of Assam Rifles (AR) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) also rushed to the spot and conducted a search operation in the area along the Phaiton hills. At around 5am, the firing stopped, and the combined team apprehended two suspects from Phaiton village along with some weapons.

The two apprehended persons were handed over to Tamenglong district police for further verification. No casualties were reported during the incident; however, the front mirror of the fire tender was damaged.

The Jiribam police said the incident might not be related to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the district.

Since May 3 last year, the violence in Manipur has led to the killing of over 200 people and displacement of over 60,000 people. Many people are still missing.

The violence had been relatively quiet for about 2-3 months; however, it reignited after a 59-year-old man was found killed in Jiribam district on June 6.

Recently, some unknown miscreants had set ablaze a police outpost established at Phaiton village.