Seven security personnel, including four Manipur Police commandos and three BSF jawans, were injured in an attack by suspected militants on Tuesday at Moreh in Tengnoupal district, close to the Myanmar border. With Tuesday’s incident, a total of 11 security personnel have been injured in different extremist attacks in Tengnoupal district since Saturday.

Reacting to the escalating violence, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Committee on Tribal unity (CoTU) have declared 24-hour shutdown in all Kuki-Zo areas (from midnight of January 3 to Jan 4) to protest against the alleged atrocities of the Meitei state forces and to demand their removal from all Kuki-Zo districts.

They stated: “The incursion of communal Meitei state forces into Moreh and the surrounding tribal areas during the ethnic conflict involving the two communities is clearly an attempt by the chief minister to drive out tribals from their homes using state machinery, and will never be tolerated by the Kuki-Zo people.”

“We urge the central government to remove all Meitei state forces, especially commandos, from Moreh and the surrounding tribal-majority settlements,” they said.

Police officials in Imphal said the militants targeted the vehicles carrying police commandos and the BSF personnel when they were en route to Moreh. The militants fired on the security forces with sophisticated weapons while the police commandos and the BSF jawans were jointly conducting search operations to nab the rebels.