News18
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Kuki militants exploit the harvest season as they know farmers will be outside in open fields, say local sources
Additional forces have been rushed to prevent the situation from escalating, police added.(Representational image)
Kuki groups from the hills on Sunday launched a series of gun-and-bomb attacks in the East Imphal villages of Meitei groups — Thamnapokpi and Sabungkhok – metres away from a Border Security Force (BSF) outpost. The violence came after the attack on Mongbung Meitei village in Jiribam district, where Kuki and Hmar militants launched an organised offensive on Saturday evening.
The first attack was reported at Thamnapokpi at 9.30 am, which continued till 11 am, and stopped only after BSF intervention. In the meantime, they also attacked Sabungkhok and Sanasabi.
Later in Jiribam district, a coordinated assault on Mongbung Meitei village began around 8.30 pm with 60 bombs.
During this attack, villagers were forced to leave the village towards shelters in the area.
According to local sources, the attacks were on expected lines. “Kuki militants exploit this harvest season because they know farmers will be outside in open fields. The recent attack took place 200 metres away from a BSF outpost,” they said.
To prevent the situation from escalating further, additional forces have been deployed, police said.
Tension prevailed in the outlying villages as farmers could not tend to their paddy fields as militants from hilltop positions fired towards low-lying fields of Sanasabi, they said.
News18 had earlier reported top-level security sources’ suspicion that Kuki groups are being empowered by foreign actors under the guise of religion with the ultimate goal of exploiting them to create a separate state by annexing areas of Manipur, Mizoram, as well as Chin State in Myanmar, along with Chittagong in Bangladesh.
According to them, both China and the United States seek dominance in Asia, and this particular region holds strategic importance for their ambitions.
With PTI Inputs