Security forces have destroyed 23 illegally built bunkers in Manipur’s Ukhrul district and recovered 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from Tengnoupal in two separate operations, police said on Saturday.
The bunker demolition took place on Thursday across hill villages including Mongkot Chepu, Shongphel, Mullam, Sirarakhong and Ringue, all under the Litan police station area.
A 12-bore pump action gun, 17 cartridges of different calibres and 111 empty cases of fired bullets were also seized.
At least seven people have been shot dead in different firing incidents and more than 30 houses have been torched since violence broke out between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities in Ukhrul district in February this year.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation on Wednesday, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives in T Bongmol village in Moreh police station area in Tengnoupal district.
Two single-barrel rifles, four 9mm pistols with magazines and 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized. The explosives were destroyed on the spot, it added.
Again, in another incident, a 12-hour shutdown has disrupted daily activities across Manipur’s Kuki-Zo-dominated Tengnoupal district on Friday, following a protest call by civil society groups over the arrest of the main suspect in the 2023 killing of a police officer in Moreh.
In a joint statement, Kuki-Zo organisations have termed the detained individual as a “social leader” and alleged that the action against him was unjustified. Tensions have intensified and gripped the area since Thursday night, with residents in Moreh reporting an uneasy situation.
