Kuki militants torch Jiri residence, farmhouse
Source: Chronicle News Service

Jiribam, October 20 2024: Hours after Kuki militants attacked Borobekra police station in early morning, Meetei villages were targeted on Saturday night, setting fire to a house and a farmhouse in Jiribam district.

The torching of the house and farmhouse took place around 10:30 pm Saturday at Nunkhal village in the district.

The house belonged to one Koijam Joni Singh (56), and farmhouse of L Samarendra of Jiribam Sorok Atingbi Kamranga.

Samarendra is the pradhan of Hilghat Gram Panchayat.

According to Joni, a group of armed Kuki militants showed up around 10 pm, and asked to open the door.

As his wife was about to answer the knock, the militants broke in, strangled his wife, and questioned her about his whereabouts, Joni recalled.

The intruders snatched the wife's necklace on being told that he was not at home, splashed the house with kerosene, and set it on fire, he narrated, adding that he managed to escape by jumping out of a window and hid in the nearby woods.

He later contacted former Jiribam Adhyaksha Kh Janaki and was able to reach the Jiribam police station after CRPF personnel arrived at the scene.

Meanwhile, security forces have reached the spot and are investigating the incident.

The incident was reported after militants attacked a village in the vicinity of the Borobekra police station and charged bombs on Saturday morning, leading to a gunfight with security forces.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

The violence was reported days after talks were held between MLAs of the warring Meetei and Kuki communities as well as Naga legislators in New Delhi in a bid to hammer out a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meeteis and Kukis in Manipur since May last year.

Ethnically-diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by ethnic violence in Imphal Valley and adjoining hills, erupted in violence after a mutilated body of a farmer was found in the fields in June this year.

Thousands had to leave their homes and relocate to relief camps due to incidents of arson by both sides.

A CRPF jawan was also killed in an ambush by militants during patrolling by security forces in mid-July.

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