Armed men ambushed a convoy carrying the security team of the chief minister of the state of Manipur, in northeastern India, this Monday (10). Two people were injured, but the leader was not with them at the time of the attack, officials said.
The dispute between the Meitei majority and the Kuki minority over economic benefits and quotas given to the Kuki has killed at least 220 people and displaced 60,000 over the past year, with clashes still ongoing.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh was scheduled to visit the state’s Jiribam region on Tuesday (11) after violence erupted in the region following the discovery of the body of a 59-year-old Meitei man last week.
Houses in the region, two police stations and a forestry department office were set on fire by “unknown bandits” after the death of the Meitei man, police said.
The security team attacked this Monday would make “arrangements and checks” for this visit, according to authorities.
The criminals opened fire on a vehicle in the convoy, “leading to a shootout”, said a security official on condition of anonymity.
The alliance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost both seats in Manipur to the main opposition in the latest national elections — the first since violence began in the state.
N. Biren Singh still heads the state’s local government for the BJP.
Manipur has 3.2 million inhabitants and is divided into two territories: a valley controlled by the Meitei and the hills dominated by the Kuki, separated by a stretch of “no man’s land” monitored by federal paramilitary forces.
Source: CNN Brasil
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