Guwahati: Security forces have yet again seized arms, ammunition, and warlike stores in different operations carried out at various places in strife-torn Manipur.
Acting on specific intelligence input, troopers of the Assam Rifles and a Special Operations Group (SOG) of Manipur Police conducted a joint search operation on Monday (September 11) in the Shikhong Thongkhong area of Thoubal district and recovered a Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), one grenade, and one Tube Launcher Grenade. These were later handed over to the Thoubal police, the Assam Rifles said on Wednesday (September 13).
In yet another joint operation by the Assam Rifles and personnel from the Lamlai police station, carried out at the Kharasom village in Chingkheiching range of Imphal East district on Monday (September 11), one carbine and two grenades were recovered.
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The seized weapon and explosives were later handed over to the Lamlai police, the Assam Rifles said on Wednesday (September 13).
Armed miscreants, who have allegedly caused extensive damage in the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur by allegedly killing several people, possess sophisticated weapons, especially those looted from police station armouries.
On August 16 this year, Assam MP and deputy leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, said that peace cannot return to violence-hit Manipur until and unless there are over 6,000 sophisticated weapons and around six lakh ammunition available with the miscreants.
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At least 178 people have been killed and thousands of others have been injured in the four-month-long ethnic clashes in the state.
The violence has also displaced over 50,000 people, forcing them to take shelter in relief camps set up by the authorities in different districts of the state.
According to data from the Manipur Social Welfare Department, around 12,694 displaced children are living in these relief camps across the state, with over 100 of them being severely traumatized and needing professional counselling.
Clashes between the Meitei and Kuki-Zomi communities erupted on May 3 this year after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.