Armed militants ambushed the convoy of Manipur Police near Sinam in Tengnoupal district, along the Imphal-Moreh highway, on Tuesday, injuring three police personnel. The convoy was sent as reinforcement to Moreh following the killing of Moreh SDPO Chingtham Anand by militants earlier in the day.
Local media reports said the convoy led by IG zone 1 Themthing Ngasangva, DIG range 2 Jogeshchandra Haobijam, SP Kakching Vikramjit, SP Thoubal Sachidananda, and additional SP operation Thoubal Wangkhomba Okramcha were on their way to Moreh when the Kuki militants fired numerous rounds of bullets from the hills towards the bulletproof vehicle.
The teams took the position after the attack, and a severe gunfight erupted on both sides and continued for 45 minutes. Some of the police vehicles were destroyed in the attack.
All three were safely evacuated to Imphal for treatment. The condition of the one is serious, officials said. While one of the injured police personnel received bullet injuries on his hand and abdomen, the other two were shot in their legs.
The law and order situation in the border town of Moreh have worsened after the killing of the SDPO. Chingtham Anand, a resident of Imphal's Haobam Marak locality, was killed in a sniper attack while he was on duty overseeing the cleaning of the grounds of Eastern Shine School for construction of a helipad jointly by the police and BSF, officials said.
Hundreds of locals and those sheltered in relief camps took out a rally at Singjamei in Imphal West to protest the killing of Chingtham and refused to take his body until the accused were arrested.
The Manipur police also carried out search operations at checkpoints in the vulnerable areas of Kakching, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Imphal West, Moreh and Tengnoupal.
The Manipur government has extended the ban on the internet by five more days until November 5. The notification comes after the previous ban on the internet expired on October 31. As per a notification by the government, there is still a palpable risk of various social media platforms on the internet being misused to spread misinformation and create an untoward situation.
