10 Armed Men Killed In Gunfight While Attacking India's Manipur Police Station

UNSPLASH/Kony ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Ten gunmen were killed in a shootout with security forces in the state of Manipur, remote in northeastern India. A shootout occurred when armed groups attacked police stations.

State police called the attackers on Monday, November 11 armed militants. Indian authorities said security forces and police responded strongly and controlled the situation after about 45 minutes of a shootout.

The deputy commissioner of the Jiribam district said the "criminals" who attacked the police station were killed at the hands of the central security forces.

However,▁masyarakatar Student Association, the tribal body representingctionar - a sub-group of the Kuki tribe community - accused village volunteers of being killed in a premeditated massacre by federal security forces and states as well as Meitei militants.

Kumar said the area had been precarious since last week, when a 31-year-old woman was burned and killed.

A security officer was seriously injured, said a local police official.

Manipur has been hit by riots since last year, when the majority of the Meitei community and the Kuki tribe clashed after a court ordered the state government to consider providing special economic benefits and quotas in government and educational work which the Kuki tribe also enjoyed to Meitei.

The country of 3.2 million people has been divided into two ethnic enclave areas since the conflict began in May 2023.

The areas are separated by a stretch of no-man's land supervised by federal paramilitary forces. It was reported that 250 people were killed and about 60,000 people displaced.