Manipur: Situation calm day after spurt in clashes
Posters, banners come up welcoming Amit Shah to Manipur
IMPHAL: An uneasy calm prevailed in Manipur, affected by ethnic conflict, a day after a sudden spurt in clashes and firing between militants and security forces, officials said on Monday.
The death toll from clashes a day before rose to five on Monday as three more people, who were undergoing treatment in hospitals, succumbed to their injuries, they said.
Army and paramilitary personnel continued combing operations in the Imphal valley and surrounding districts, an official said.
The Army operation is aimed at confiscating illegal caches of arms, he said.
Meanwhile, posters, banners and messages come up in Manipur on Monday welcoming Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his four-day visit during which he will meet stake-holders to assess the situation and take steps to restore normalcy to the state that witnessed ethnic violence over the past few weeks.
The messages have come from both Meities and Kuki communities which have been in the news after the recent spate of violence.
While the posters and banners were seen in Imphal and several other districts, the welcome messages were issued by several civil society organisations of Manipur, sources said.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Army personnel apprehended three miscreants from Imphal East district on Sunday, and later handed over to the Manipur Police, a defence spokesperson said. The army recovered arms and ammunition from them, he said.
“Responding to specific intelligence about armed miscreants venturing openly with the intention to carry out an attack on security forces in the area of City Convention Centre of Imphal East district, the Army mobilised three columns on Sunday to establish multiple mobile vehicle check posts there, the defence spokesperson said.
During the checking, the Army personnel intercepted a car, and on being stopped, the miscreants got down from the vehicle and attempted to escape from there but the security team apprehended them, he said.
“One INSAS rifle with magazine, sixty rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, one Chinese hand grenade and one detonator were also recovered. All three miscreants with weapons and ammunition were later handed over to Manipur Police,” the defence spokesperson said.
The police had on Sunday said that at least two persons were killed and
12 injured in different instances of firing upon civilians and clashes between militants and security forces.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said nearly 40 armed militants involved in torching houses and firing at civilians have been killed by security forces since they began an operation to bring peace to the northeastern state beset by ethnic rioting.
The latest clashes began after the army and paramilitary forces commenced combing operations to dearm