Suspected Kuki militants fired several rounds towards a temple of the Meitei community in Manipur’s Imphal East district today, police sources said.

The attack came on a day Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla extended the one-week deadline for people from all communities to deposit looted and illegally held weapons till March 6. The previous deadline ended today.

The firing came from the hilltops in adjoining Kangpokpi while some members of the Meitei community were praying at the Kongba Maru temple, sources said. No one was injured, they said.

Following the attack at the temple some 22 km from the state capital Imphal, a joint team of the police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) combed the nearby hills, residents from nearby villages who went to the temple told reporters.

Some people from the Meitei community held a protest on the road leading to the temple. They shouted slogans and asked the Governor to ensure “Kuki militants” stop attacks.

“The firing was possibly an attempt to draw a reaction, keep the situation tense at the slightest sign of lives returning to normal. People should let the security forces handle it. The President’s rule is in force, and everyone has time till March 6 to surrender weapons. Then the security forces will not tolerate any more of this,” a police officer who met the protesters told reporters.

The firing also came a day after the Arambai Tenggol (AT) handed over 300 firearms to the police, following the Governor’s call to do so.

The Kongba Maru temple was vandalised by suspected Kuki insurgents after ethnic clashes broke out in May 2023.

The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting for nearly two years over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 250 have been killed and 50,000 have been internally displaced.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh and his council of ministers resigned on February 9, after which the Governor placed the assembly in suspended animation, or MLAs active but without powers, following the imposition of the President’s rule.