- By Radha Basnet
- Wed, 17 Jan 2024 02:05 PM (IST)
- Source:PTI
Moreh News: Fresh violence erupted in Manipur as security forces and suspected Kuki militants exchanged fire in the border town of Moreh in the Tengnoupal district on Wednesday morning, police said. According to police, the militants opened fire and threw bombs at a security force post close to SBI Moreh. The security forces retaliated the fire, they said.
During the fire exchange, one state police personnel was killed. The deceased was identified as Wangkhem Somorjit an IRB personnel attached to the state police commando in Moreh, the police said as quoted by the news agency PTI. The attack from Milatant came after state forces arrested two persons for allegedly being involved in the killing of a sub-divisional police officer in Moreh town, police said.
According to the police statement, both suspects were apprehended on Monday evening by special commando teams at the border town. "During patrolling near Moreh College, security personnel observed two suspected individuals who fired at the vehicles of security personnel and ran into a cluster of houses. The security forces immediately retaliated and cordoned off the houses near Moreh College," the police said as quoted by PTI.
The arrested persons are "among the main suspects" in the killing of Moreh SDPO Chingtham Anand in October last year, the police statement said. The two main suspects in the killing of SDPO were identified as Phillip Khongsai and Hemokholal Mate. The two were later produced before the Judicial Magistrate Moreh and have been remanded to nine days police custody, police said.
Police have recovered one pistol with two live rounds, one Chinese hand grenade, ten live rounds of AK ammunition and ten detonators from their possession. Meanwhile, a large number of women had protested in front of Moreh police station demanding "unconditional release" of the two, officials said.
Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal (KIT), Churachandpur district-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Kangpokpi district-based Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) have criticised the arrest of the two and refuted the "alleged attempt" to link the two with the killing of a police officer.
(With Agency Inputs)
