IMPHAL: The situation in Manipur's Kangpokpi and Noney districts remained tense but calm on Thursday after two separate militant attacks in the districts claimed four lives and left four others injured, officials said.
A police official said that there was no fresh incident in the two mountainous districts, inhabited largely by tribal communities, since Wednesday night, even as security forces maintained a high vigil in the region and adjoining areas.
Normal life was badly affected after the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), one of the apex bodies of the Kuki community in the state, called for a three-day total shutdown across all Kuki-Zo inhabited areas following the killing of three Baptist Church leaders in Kangpokpi.
All business establishments, government offices, private institutions, educational institutions, and vehicular movement remained shut due to the shutdown call.
However, essential services, including airport operations, medical facilities, fire and emergency services, and other humanitarian services, were exempted from the shutdown.
The KIM also announced a two-day nationwide mourning by the Kuki-Zo community in honour of the deceased Church leaders.
According to a police official in Imphal, unidentified armed men ambushed two vehicles along Tiger Road in the mountainous Kangpokpi on Wednesday morning, killing three persons, all belonging to the Kuki community, on the spot and injuring four others.
The Kuki Students' Organisation stated that all the victims were Baptist Church leaders from the Kuki community.
Hours after the Kangpokpi attack, another ambush took place near the Joujangtek Forest Gate in Noney on Wednesday evening.
A police official said a man and his wife, belonging to the Chiru Naga community, were returning home from Imphal in a car when unidentified armed attackers reportedly opened fire on their vehicle near Joujangtek under Khoupum Police Station. One person was killed in the incident.
Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, Deputy Chief Ministers Nemcha Kipgen and Yumnam Joykumar Singh, along with over a dozen organisations representing different communities, condemned both incidents of violence. (IANS)
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