Imphal, Oct 19: One person was killed and several others injured in clashes between members of two communities in Manipur’s Thoubal district, prompting the authorities to impose prohibitory orders in two affected areas, police said on Monday. A police official in Imphal said that the violence erupted at Khangabok village, under Thoubal police station and around 25 km south of the state capital Imphal, on Sunday night when a group of people allegedly pelted stones at a ground where a music concert was being held, police said.
The incident escalated into stone-pelting between members of the two communities in Khangabok and neighbouring Sangaiyumpham. A few houses and vehicles were also set on fire during the clashes. Amid the violence, unidentified miscreants opened fire, hitting a person in the head.
The injured man, identified as Laishram Rakesh, was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries, police said. Several other people sustained minor cut injuries after being hit by stones and were admitted to a hospital for treatment. Additional state and central security forces were deployed in the affected villages to prevent further escalation.
The situation was under control on Monday morning, police said. Following the violence, the Thoubal district magistrate issued prohibitory orders on Sunday night, directing residents of Khangabok and Sangaiyumpham not to leave their homes from 11 p.m.
The order, issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), cited the likelihood of a breach of peace, disturbance of public tranquillity and an imminent threat to human life and property due to the alleged unlawful activities of anti-social elements.
The order did not specify when the restrictions would be lifted. Meanwhile, more than 25 houses were set ablaze in separate incidents in Manipur’s Kamjong district during the past 24 hours, with suspected militants targeting both Naga and Kuki inhabitant areas, forcing civilians to flee their homes and take shelter in forests and a nearby security camp.
Around 14 abandoned houses belonging to the Naga community were set on fire by unidentified miscreants at Pilong and Skipe villages along the India-Myanmar border on Sunday. Additional security forces were deployed after these incidents, a police official said. The houses had been abandoned after earlier attacks on the Naga-inhabited villages.
IANS