Manipur orders curfew after six bodies found

Curfew was imposed today as protesters stormed the residences of two ministers and three lawmakers in the strife-torn north eastern Indian state of Manipur’s Imphal West district after a fresh round of violence, police said.
According to an order issued by Imphal West District Magistrate Th Kirankumar, the curfew was imposed from 4:30pm.
Earlier in the day, a mob stormed the residence of Health and Family Welfare Minister Sapam Ranjan in Lamphel Sanakeithel area demanding justice for the murder of three persons belonging to a particular ethnic group in Jiribam district, a senior officer said.
The protesters also stormed the house of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister L Susindro Singh, another senior officer said.
Agitators in Sagolband area of Imphal West district gathered in front of the residence of BJP legislator RK Imo, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, and raised slogans demanding an “appropriate response from the government” over the killing of three persons and urging the authorities to “arrest the culprits within 24 hours”.
Protesters, who had come to meet Keishamthong constituency’s independent legislator Sapam Nishikanta Singh at his residence at Tiddim Road, targeted the office building of a local newspaper owned by him after they were told that the legislator was not present in the state, a senior officer said.
Three bodies, suspected to be of six missing members of majority Metei ethnic group from Jiribam district, were found near the confluence of two rivers along Manipur-Assam border on Friday night, triggering fresh tension.
The bodies of a woman and two children were found about 16 km from Borobekra in Jiribam district, close to the location where the six people went missing on Monday.
Last Monday, 11 suspected militants were killed in a gun battle with security forces after they allegedly attacked a police station and an adjoining paramilitary personnel camp with sophisticated weapons in Jiribam. Following this, six civilians, including children and women, went missing from the district. They were suspected to have been abducted by armed militants.
Manipur has been rocked by ethnic violence involving Meteis and minority Kuki ethnic groups since May last year leaving more than 200 people killed and nearly 50,000 persons homeless. End