Gunfight in Manipur: One village volunteer killed; a commando injured

Imphal: One Meitei village volunteer was killed and a state police commando was injured in separate attacks carried out by unidentified gunmen on Saturday.

The first attack by the unidentified gunmen occurred at around 3:30 early Saturday morning at Kadangband Part 2 Chingyang in Imphal West District. Kadangband is one of the severely affected areas in the ethnic violence bordering Kuki Zo dominated Kangpokpi district. The other attack was an ambush carried out by unidentified gunmen, suspected to be Kuki militants at Special Commando deployed at Indo-Myanmar border town Moreh at around 3:40 in the afternoon.

The one Meitei village volunteer killed in the Kadangband attack is identified as Ningombam Jamesbond, a 35-year-old from Mayanglangjing in Imphal West. It was said that Jamesbond was part of a group of village volunteers who were guarding the village. They were attacked by the gunmen using assault rifles and bombs and a gunfight ensued during which Jamesbond was hit by a bullet.

Jamesbond died of profuse bleeding before getting any first aid or treatment as darkness and firing made it difficult to rescue him for treatment. His lifeless body was kept at the mortuary of JNIMS for post mortem. On the other hand, State and Central forces rushed to the area and area domination was carried out to prevent any new gunfights.

On the Moreh ambush, according to police, the ambush happened when a team of Special Commando was heading towards Key Location Point (KLP) camp of 5th Assam Rifles, which is located 4 Kilometres from Moreh town in the National Highway 102 towards Imphal.

Police further said that when the special commando team was nearing Moreh College, armed gunmen suspected to be Kuki militants who were already hiding in the areas attacked the Commando team with bombs and rifles. The special commando team retaliated and heavy gunfight ensued with the gunmen. During the gunfight, a rifleman of 5th IRB attached to Special Commando identified as Rifleman G. Ponkhamlung was injured. He was immediately evacuated to 5th Assam Rifles camp and is undergoing treatment.

The gunfight lasted for more than two hours and later more reinforcements from Moreh Commando, More Police, 5th and 6th IRB arrived and successfully carried out area domination. Till the filing of this news there is no report of casualty on the side of the unidentified gunmen.