StatesManipur
Chassad village chief among four wounded in fresh firing in Manipur's Kamjong
Suspected NSCN-IM cadres opened fire on the village on Saturday afternoon, two days after an ambush nearby killed a woman and left a Chassad couple missing.
Key points
- Gunmen fired with automatic weapons at Chassad village around 2:30 pm on Saturday.
- Village chief Thangjahao Haokip and two Village Authority members are among the four injured.
- The wounded were taken to the Army camp at Chassad; their condition is not yet known.
Gunmen opened fire on Chassad village in Manipur’s Kamjong district on Saturday afternoon, wounding four civilians, among them the village chief, two days after an ambush in the same district killed a woman and left a couple from Chassad missing.
The firing began at about 2:30 pm. Suspected cadres of the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) are alleged to have fired on the village with automatic weapons. The injured were carried to the Army camp in Chassad for treatment. Their condition, and what set off the shooting, were not known by evening.
Security reinforcements were reported to have been moved into the Chassad-Mongkot Chepu sector, in the border district.
The wounded
The four injured are Thangjahao Haokip, the chief of Chassad; St Khailun Haokip and Seikhohao, both members of the Chassad Village Authority; and Seipao Haokip, chief of Phungtha (Kachouphung-Kuki). Seipao Haokip had been living as a displaced person after fleeing his village following threats and violence that residents blame on NSCN-IM cadres and Tangkhul groups.
Three days, two attacks
On Thursday evening, between about 4 pm and 5 pm, gunmen ambushed two couples on motorcycles between Molnoi and Phaikoh as they rode out to buy essential supplies. Hatneikim Haokip of Molnoi was killed and her husband, Jangkhongam Haokip, was wounded. D Paokhothang Haokip and his wife, Boishi Haokip, both of Chassad, were still missing on Friday as security forces and villagers searched for them.
Police said that attack was carried out by suspected militants. Kuki Inpi Manipur and the Kuki-Zo Council blamed the NSCN-IM. In a statement on Friday the Kuki-Zo Council called for “an immediate and impartial investigation”, and said the killing took to 30 the number of Kuki-Zo civilians it holds the NSCN-IM and the ZUF(K) responsible for. It argued that any review of the suspension of operations pacts with Kuki groups should also cover the NSCN-IM’s ceasefire.
The attacks follow killings on the other side of the conflict. Suspected Kuki militants were blamed for an attack on Makui Ashang village in Kangpokpi district on 10 October in which four Naga men were killed. The severed head of one of them, Ajinbou Ringkamai, 52, was recovered near the site by a joint team of the CRPF and Manipur Police on Thursday, after the Naga body Joint Tribes Council Manipur had set a 48-hour ultimatum for its return.
In the border villages, residents have voiced fears for civilians caught in the crossfire, and community leaders have appealed for steps to stop the violence from spreading.