Imphal: At least 13 people were killed in a firefight between two unknown militant groups in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district on Monday, December 4. The identity of the deceased remains unknown, the police said.
According to the reports, the incident of gunfight were reported from Leithu village around afternoon.
An official in the hill district said the dead were not from the Leithu area and had come from another place, after which they engaged in a gunfight with a separate group.
“A group of militants on their way to Myanmar were ambushed by another group of insurgents dominant in the area,” he said.
Since the clashes first erupted in May, Manipur has been roiled up by the recurring bouts of violence. The ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities have killed more than 182 people and displaced over 50,000 civilians till now.
On December 3, authorities lifted the ban on mobile internet services in the violence-gripped state after seven months. However, it excluded the border areas in some districts.
The ban was lifted after four days following the peace agreement that was signed by the Manipur government and the United National Liberation Force (UNLF), the earliest militant outfit in the state, in Delhi.
(With inputs from PTI)
