A woman from the Kuki community was killed in a crossfire between security forces and suspected Kuki militants in Chingphei village of Churachandpur district on Thursday, shortly after a gun attack left a Meitei聽 farmer injured in neighbouring Phubala village of Bishnupur district, reports The India Today.
The incident has reignited ethnic tensions in the region and triggered protests from both Meitei and Kuki groups.
According to official sources, the firing began around 3:30pm on Thursday after armed miscreants allegedly opened fire at Phubala, a low-lying agricultural village situated along the Bishnupur-Churachandpur border.
The assailants, reportedly positioned in the adjoining hills, fired multiple rounds at farmers working in the fields. Sixty-year-old Ningthoujam Biren, a Meitei farmer, was hit in the left arm and was rushed to Bishnupur District Hospital.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Biren said, 鈥業 was working in the fields when I heard five gunshots. One of them hit me. We couldn鈥檛 even see who fired.鈥�
