Imphal, Nov 13 — At least four people, including a mother and her son, were shot dead in a suspected ambush allegedly carried out by Kuki militants along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2) in Manipur's Ukhrul district on Friday afternoon, officials said.
The incident reportedly took place at New Haven, under the jurisdiction of Litan Police Station in the hill district of Ukhrul, which shares an unfenced international border with Myanmar and an inter-state border with Nagaland.
A police official said that the victims were travelling in two separate vehicles, a Bolero pick-up and a Maruti Swift car, when suspected armed militants reportedly opened fire from the vicinity of Yaolen village, a Kuki settlement near the incident site.
The victims, including two women, were identified as Kapangkhui RS, Haoleia RS, both residents of Shangshak Village, and August Ngalung and Khanmila, both residents of Tashar village.
They sustained fatal bullet injuries and succumbed on the spot.
A police official in Imphal, quoting the local people, said that the two men and two women, who were travelling in the two vehicles, died on the spot following the attack by the armed militants.
Bullet marks were seen on the windshields of the two vehicles, he added.
Additional security forces comprising Manipur Police, Border Security Force (BSF), Army and Assam Rifles have been rushed to the area to reinforce security and prevent any further untoward incidents.
Search operations have been launched in and around the area of the incident to trace and apprehend those involved.
Meanwhile, normal life was partially affected in Manipur's Kangpokpi district on Friday, with shops, markets and business establishments remaining closed following a bandh called by a tribal organisation to protest against the killing of a Kuki woman in a gunfight between two rival groups on Thursday.
Most vehicles, including passenger buses and auto-rickshaws, remained off the roads, causing considerable inconvenience to commuters.
The Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) called the 48-hour shutdown from midnight on November 12 following the gunfight in the vicinity of Taphou Kuki village on Thursday.
Educational institutions, medical facilities and emergency services were exempted from the purview of the bandh.
The COTU demanded the withdrawal of all Central and state security forces, particularly those operating under the command of the Senapati district Superintendent of Police (SP) Shaikh Mohd Zaib Zakir, from the mountainous areas of Kangpokpi district.
A 42-year-old Kuki woman, identified as Kimneineng Chongloi, was shot dead, while two others were injured during a gun battle between rival armed groups in an area near Taphou Kuki village in Kangpokpi district and Kailengjang in neighbouring Senapati district on Thursday.
Kuki organisations alleged that the woman was killed by cadres of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) and Zeliangrong United Front – Kamson faction (ZUF-K) while she was working in a paddy field.
At least 50 people have been killed in clashes between Kuki and Naga groups in the hill districts of Manipur since February this year.