Militants kill woman in Manipur, four injured

Imphal: A woman was killed and four others, including a police officer and minor daughter of the slain woman, were injured when suspected militants fired in Manipur’s valley areas on Sunday, police said.

A police official said that the heavily armed militants fired indiscriminately from a hilltop and also threw bombs at the low-lying valley areas of Koutruk and neighbouring Kadangband under Imphal West district killing the 31-year-old woman and injuring four others, including her eight-year-old daughter and a police officer.

All the injured sustained bullet injuries.

The official said that the abrupt attack by the suspected militants caused widespread tension, and panic leading to the fleeing of many villagers, including women, children, and elderly persons, to take shelter in safer places.

The body of the slain Meitei community woman, identified as Ngangbam Surbala Devi, has been taken to the government-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for an autopsy.

The woman’s daughter and police officer N. Robert (30) have also been shifted to RIMS while two others have been admitted to another hospital.

The slain woman and the other injured people were at their homes when the heavy firing and bombings started all of a sudden.

Many houses were also damaged in the firing along with bomb attacks.

A huge contingent of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel along with state forces have rushed to the area and launched a combing operation to nab the militants.

Sunday’s incident is the second killing in the past one month.

A former MLA’s wife Charubala Haokip (59) was killed in a blast at Ekou Mullam in Manipur’s tribal-dominated Kangpokpi district on August 11.

According to police the explosion seriously injured Charubala Haokip (59) wife of a former MLA Yamthong Haokip (64) and she was immediately taken to the Community Health Center at Saikul, where she succumbed to her injuries.

The blast happened when the victim was burning waste in her residential complex.

Haokip (MLA from 2017-2022) was also in his house when the explosion took place but he was not injured in the blast.

Charubala belongs to the Meitei community while Yamthong is from the Kuki-Zo community.

IANS