Relatives of the injured migrant gather in front of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Imphal, Nov. 8: An unidentified gunman shot at and critically injured a migrant worker in Imphal East district of Manipur today.

This is the third attack on migrants in the state since October 31.

Police said one of the two gunmen shot at and injured Shankar Sahu, 24, at Lamlai bazaar this afternoon while he was on his way to the market to sell grain. Sahu is from Bihar.

The police, quoting eyewitnesses, said Sahu came to the market on a bus to sell grain to local shops as usual.

Sources said the migrant worker was staying at a rented house in the city.

“As soon as Sahu got off the bus, one of the two gunmen standing near the bus stop, whipped out a small weapon and fired three rounds at him from close range. Three bullets hit the migrant,” a police source said.

The local people rushed the injured worker to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Doctors said his condition was critical.

On October 31, unknown gunmen shot dead Joysankar Prasad, a butcher, at Wangoo Laipham Khunou in Thoubal district.

In another incident, unidentified gunmen had shot dead Md. Kalam Sheikh, a scrap iron collector at Takyel Khongbak in Imphal West on November 2.

According to official sta-tistics, 24 migrants were killed in Manipur since February this year. Today’s incident took place even as the twin districts of Imphal were in a state of high alert in the wake of the attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far. The police, however, suspect militants to be behind the attacks.

The migrants staying in the state capital and towns had been asked not to venture out to places where their security was at risk in the wake of the recent attacks.

Senior superintendent of police, Imphal West, L. Kailun, in a statement on November 2, appealed to the migrants to remain confined to the city and not to go out to the remote areas for their own safety.

In an unrelated incident, militants gunned down a youth at Sarik Konjil under Waikhong police station in Thoubal today.

The victim has been identified as Longjam Boyboy, 25, a driver.

Police recovered a piece of paper near the body in which it was written that the dead man was an informer of the security forces.