Police recover body of 4th man missing since Manipur gunfight
Four people were reported missing after residents of Bishnupur heard loud bangs of bombs and bullets
Imphal: The Manipur police on Saturday found the body of a man who was among the four people reported missing after a gunfight at a buffer zone near the state’s Churachandpur district, people aware of the matter said.
Ahanthem Dara (55), Thoudam Ibomcha (53), his son Thoudam Anand (27) and Oinam Romen (45) were reported missing after residents of Bishnupur heard loud bangs of bombs and bullets being fired from the hills near Haotak Phailen village at around 3pm on Wednesday. While Ibomcha, Anand and Romen’s bodies were found in the jungles of Haothak Tampha Kunao in Churachandpur on Thursday, officials said they found Dara’s body on Saturday. “A police team found the body in Haotak Mapalok Chakpi Ching, adjoining Bishnupur and Churachandpur. It was sent to a mortuary in a government hospital in Imphal,” an official aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
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Residents of Terakhong village, where the four lived, said they were unarmed villagers, who were shot dead for going near another village to collect firewood.
As a fallout of the long-running ethnic hostilities, the Meiteis, who live largely in the plains of Imphal Valley, and the Kukis, who predominantly live in the hills, have withdrawn to their respective strongholds. In response, security forces have created buffer zones in different border districts, which have also been divided on ethnic lines. Bishnupur district is home to the Meiteis, while Kuki tribals dominate Churachandpur.
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Security forces have set up camps and are posted on the highway to ensure that the groups remain separated, do not enter each other’s districts, and trigger violence. But many times, militants from both groups use the hills and jungle area to cross into other districts and attack each other, according to security officials.
The sweeping ethnic violence has also led to the creation of community-based armed village defence volunteers, underlining how faultlines have deepened beyond the Meitei -Kuki divide, pitting different communities and groups against each other.
