Manipur police on Saturday said “armed Kuki militants” were behind Friday’s ambush in Naga-majority Ukhrul district that killed a truck driver from Bengal and injured a policeman.
In a statement, the police said a combined security force comprising Manipur police, CRPF, BSF and RAF, escorting a convoy of stranded FCI trucks and LPG/IOCL tankers from Yaingangpokpi towards Ukhrul, came under heavy attack at Roudei village from the Patleijang hill area by “armed Kuki militants who had taken tactical positions along the route”.
“During the attack, an FCI truck driver, Nitish Kumar, 57, of Hooghly district, West Bengal, sustained critical gunshot injuries and succumbed on the spot. A police personnel of Litan police station also sustained a bullet injury. Security forces have launched search operations and area domination exercises to nab the perpetrators,” the statement said.
Manipur police usually refers to attackers in such incidents as unidentified gunmen or miscreants, but it specifically described them as Kuki militants on Saturday.
On Friday evening, the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Nagas in Manipur, had also blamed suspected Kuki militants for the ambush and said it was the third major attack along the Imphal-Ukhrul-Kamjong stretch since February.
The latest attack was the second ambush along NH-202 in Ukhrul district since April 18, when two Tangkhul Naga civilians were killed.
Another flashpoint remains the Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district following the killing of three Kuki-Zo church leaders on May 13. Kuki organisations had blamed Naga militants for the killings.
Soon after the incident, 48 Kuki-Zos and Naga civilians were taken hostage by armed groups. While 28 were released on May 15, 14 Kuki-Zos and six Naga civilians remain in captivity, heightening tensions in the hills.
Friday’s ambush site is about 6km from Shangkai, a Kuki village in Ukhrul district where security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters enforcing a road blockade during a shutdown called by the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM). The shutdown was linked to the May 13 killings and the continuing hostage crisis.
The Kuki CSO Working Committee, Ukhrul, has sought treatment for those injured during what it termed “excessive use of force” at Shangkai and demanded a time-bound judicial inquiry. According to the organisation, two women were injured. A massive rally was held in Kangpokpi as part of the nationwide protest in Kuki-Zo areas on Saturday against the killing of the Church leaders and the continuing hostage crisis.
Shutdowns in Kuki-Zo areas and an economic blockade in Naga areas after the May 13 killings and hostage crisis have disrupted the movement of goods trucks, sources said. Friday’s ambush has intensified demands for effective security for truckers using the highways. Reports from Imphal said a section of truckers also suspended operations in protest.
Chief minister Y. Khemchand Singh said strict action would be taken against those involved and stressed that development was possible only in a peaceful environment. On Friday, Khemchand had described the killing of the driver as a cowardly act aimed at aggravating the already tense situation and disrupting supplies of essentials statewide.
Meanwhile, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), has given the state government four days from Friday to trace and hand over the six Naga hostages. The organisation warned that failing this, Nagas could collectively boycott the government and appeal to Naga legislators supporting it to withdraw their backing.
ANSAM has held Kuki militants under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangement responsible for the abduction of the six Naga civilians. Kuki-Zo organisations, on the other hand, blame Naga militant groups for the abduction of 14 members of their community on May 13.
Mukesh Singh, a 1996-batch IPS officer who will take over as Manipur director-general of police on June 1, reached Imphal on Saturday.
