Imphal (Manipur): Gunfights erupt in Imphal East’s Sabungkhok Khunou leaving three village volunteers injured after suspected armed Kukis attack the village with bombs and assault rifles.

Days of peace ended in the village (Sabungkhok Khunou), a village falling under the jurisdiction of Lamlai Police Station, which lies on the border between Imphal East and Kangpokpi at around 3 am on Thursday morning when suspected armed Kukis started attacking.

According to reports from the incident site, the suspected armed Kukis came down from the hills taking advantage of the dark infiltrated near the western side of the village where a brick field (Meitei owned) was located. From there the armed Kukis launched the attack using bombs and sophisticated guns. It was first reported that a team of Ukhrul Police Station, who were on duty there retaliated and a gunfight broke out.

After hearing the news of the attack, large numbers of Imphal East District Police rushed to the village. At the same time more Meitei village volunteers also arrived and helped the police in fighting back the attackers.  The gunfight continued till noon, however, the police and the Meitei village volunteers chased away the suspected armed Kukis from the village back to the foothills.

But at around 3 in the afternoon, the armed men again started attacking from a hill top located on the western side of the Meitei village. Fierce gunfight continued till night and during the gunfight, three Meitei village volunteers were injured with bullets and bomb splinters. The injured were immediately rescued and taken to different hospitals in Imphal and are undergoing treatment. Till the filing of the news, gunfight continued and it cannot be confirmed if there were casualties on the attackers side.

On the other hand, scuffle also broke out between local women of the village area with troops of 20 Jat Regiment and 5/4 GR. The reason for the scuffle was reported that the local women did not have trust in the central forces, as the central forces had earlier assured them that they (central forces) will not let any attack happen in the village.

There was an incident where a team of media who were covering the scuffle was stopped by the Jat Regiment and forced them (to delete the video footage of the scuffle).

Regarding the incident, the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and Editors’ Guild Manipur (EGM) strongly condemned the manner in which combined troops of the 20 Jat Regiment and 5/4 GR prevented media persons from doing their duties at the Sabungkhok Khunou area, where the media persons had gone to cover the incident of attack on Sabungkhok Khunou village.

The two media bodies in a press release said that in the incident, troops of the Jat Regiment not only prevented a media team consisting of reporters from ISTV, Impact TV, Tom TV, and ISCom from covering the incident but forced them to delete whatever footage was there on their mobiles.

Further, it said that AMWJU and EGM will submit a memorandum each to the Chairman, Unified Command, Kuldiep Singh (Security Advisor of the CM), and  Governor of Manipur Anusuiya Uikey to look into the series of attacks on media since May 3, 2023, and take appropriate action.

The joint press release of the two media bodies saying, the media in Manipur has been working in an extremely difficult situation since the present crisis broke out, appealed to all security forces operating in the state not to target or prevents media personnel from performing their legitimate duties.