Policeman Injured In Ambush By Suspected Insurgents Ahead Of Manipur CM’s Visit

Imphal: Ahead of Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s visit to Manipur’s Jiribam district, suspected Kuki insurgents ambushed a police convoy leaving a personnel injured.

The injured policeman, identified as Moirangthem Ajesh (32) from Bishnupur district, suffered a bullet injury in his right shoulder.

According to police sources, multiple gunshots were fired on the advance guard sent to prepare for the CM’s visit took place near T Laijang village along National Highway 37, the road connecting Imphal with Jiribam. The attack site which is about 26 km away from Imphal comes under the Kuki-Zomi-dominated Kangpokpi district, Indian Express reported.

“It is very unfortunate and highly condemnable. It is an attack directly on the Chief Minister, means directly on the people of the state. So, the state government has to do something,” Chief Minister Biren Singh told ANI.

The attack comes amid a backdrop of heightened violence in the region that surged on June 6, after the body of Soibam Saratkumar Singh, a 59-year-old Meitei farmer who had been missing for a week, was recovered. In the arson that followed, houses of both Hmar-Mizos and Meiteis, two police outposts, and a forest beat office were set on fire.