Several houses torched in Mnp; death toll surges to four

IMPHAL, Sep 14 (NPN): Hours after attacks involving fatalities, several houses abandoned by the Naga residents along the Tamenglong-Jiribam inter-district border were set on fire by armed miscreants, marking escalation of the renewed Naga-Kuki conflict in troubled-Manipur.
Meanwhile, the death toll in yesterday’s attacks rose to four after a man who sustained critical bullet injuries in one of the attacks by suspected militants at L Tollen in Tamenglong district died late on Sunday evening. In the pre-dawn attack at L Tollen village, a woman was killed at the spot, while her husband and their six-year-old son sustained critical bullet injuries. The security forces who rushed to the village following the attack evacuated the wounded husband and his son to a hospital in Jiribam district.
However, they were airlifted at a hospital in Silcher of neighbouring Assam state as their conditions deteriorated where the father succumbed to his critical injuries.
Later in the evening of the same day, a vehicle ferrying rice came under attack along the NH-37 near Longpi village under Nungba police station in Noney district in which two Kuki members including a woman were killed.
Apparently in retaliation to the attacks, a group of suspected militants stormed at an abandoned Rongmei (Naga) village along the the Jiribam-Tamenglong inter-district border and set on fire the houses.
At least four houses were razed in the arson incident reported at Khedaghar village which is around 12km south of Jiribam police station. No casualty was reported in the arson as the villagers had already vacated their village situated close to Kuki inhabited areas weeks ago amid growing Kuki-Naga tensions. In a separate incident, at least three houses were reportedly set ablaze at Dongmei or Nungkhal, a small Naga inhabited village in Tamenglong district. Though the village has around five houses and is only around 27 km from the Tamenglong district headquarters, it is accessible only through Jiribam.
The residents had also vacated their village in recent days, fearing attacks as it lies close to Kuki inhabited areas. Security forces, including the CRPF and Assam Rifles, in the meantime, intensified their area domination operations in the affected areas following the arson incidents.
A column of CRPF has also moved towards the affected areas as a part of security measures to prevent escalation of the violence in the area. Official sources said that Central security forces like the CRPF and Assam Rifles have been put on alert in and around the vulnerable settlement areas of both the tribes in conflict.