A truck driver from West Bengal was killed and a Manipur Police constable injured after unidentified militants ambushed an escort goods vehicle on National Highway 202 near TM Kasum village in Ukhrul district of Manipur, officers said on Friday.
“More than 20 trucks loaded with goods along with oil tankers were stranded at Yaingangpokpi in Imphal East district for about 10 days due to the complete lockdown imposed by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM). After receiving security, a convoy of 13 vehicles, including 10 trucks loaded with goods and two oil tankers, left for Ukhrul at around 8 am, after which the unfortunate incident took place,” a senior police officer said. Requesting anonymity, he told HT.
Officers from Litan Police Station said that at around 9 a.m., before the ambush, a group of protesters tried to block the convoy on the highway in Shangkai Kuki village. The protest was part of a shutdown called by Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex Kuki body.
“But the Rapid Action Force personnel along with other security forces dispersed the mob by firing several rounds of tear gas shells and dummy bombs,” an officer said.
He added that at least five female Kuki Party demonstrators were injured and more than three trucks loaded with goods were partially damaged when security forces dispersed the mob.
Officers said the convoy was on its way when gunmen opened fire from a nearby hilltop at around 10 a.m. on Friday. The officers added that the accident occurred after the convoy passed the Al-Litan Police Station.
Police have identified the deceased truck driver as Nitish Kumar (57), a resident of Hooghly district in West Bengal, and the injured police constable as Disingam Maringmi (35), a resident of Sanjaibru Kapoi Khol village in Imphal West.
Police said Marengemi was injured when security forces responded to the ambush. Marengmi, who worked at Litan Police Station, was shot in the knees. He was shifted to Jawaharlal Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) Hospital in Imphal for treatment.
Hospital authorities said that the injured were out of danger.
Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister Yomnam Khemchand expressed his strong condemnation of the incident. “A goods vehicle was ambushed by unidentified armed miscreants along National Highway-202 between Lingangcheng and TS Kasum under Litan Police Station in Ukrul District,” a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on Friday said.
“The ambush of a goods vehicle and killing of a driver, who plays a crucial role in ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential items across the state, is one of the most cowardly acts and is designed to further aggravate the tense situation prevailing in the region,” the statement read.
The statement added that a search and cordon operation had begun in the surrounding areas to arrest the perpetrators and punish them in accordance with the country’s law.
Amidst the Manipur crisis that broke out on May 3, 2023, between the Meitei and Kuki Zo groups, killing over 260 people and displacing over 60,000, another clash broke out between the Naga and Kuki groups in February after a drunken brawl at Litan Sarikhong under Litan police station in Ukhrul district.
Tensions remain between the Kuki and Naga communities, escalating after the double ambush carried out in Kangbukpi and Nonni districts on 13 May, which left four civilians dead, including three church leaders and a Naga man.
Following the double ambush, 48 civilians from both sects were taken hostage. On May 15, 14 people from each sect were released. However, according to civilian bodies of both communities, 14 Kuki civilians and six Naga civilians are still being held hostage.
Since then, to demand the safe release and rescue of six Naga hostages, the United Naga Council (UNC), an apex Naga body, has imposed an indefinite economic blockade along the three national highways in Manipur, including Imphal-Dimapur (NH-2), Imphal-Silchar via Jiribam (NH-37), and Imphal-Moreh (NH-102).
Moreover, the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), an apex civic body, imposed a complete lockdown in all Kuki inhabited areas across Manipur, demanding the release of 14 Kuki hostages and the custody of the culprits involved in the killing of three church leaders in the May 13 Kangpokpi ambush incident.
