Woman killed as militants fire at farmers in Manipur

A woman was killed when suspected militants fired on farmers working in a paddy in Saiton area of Assam's Bishnupur district, on Saturday.

Police said security forces have been rushed in, adding that the militants were using sophisticated weapons.

Earlier in the week on Thursday, suspected extremists had attacked Zairon Hmar village in Manipur's Jiribam district, leaving a trail of destruction, grief and despair. A mother of three was raped and killed in the attack.

At least eight houses were burnt in the attack. A police official in Imphal said the villagers managed to flee to safer places. The extremists, too, fled before security personnel reached the area.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), an apex body of tribals in Manipur, claimed that gunfire continued for about an hour and that a woman was burnt alive.

The mixed populated of Jiribam district, adjoining Assam, has seen several incidents of violence this year. Last year, the district had been relatively peaceful amid the ethnic violence that engulfed several other districts.

Seventeen months after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, the home ministry held its first meeting in Delhi on October 15 with all three major communities--Meitei, Kuki and Naga--in a bid to find a way to a peaceful solution to the unrest.

Clashes between the non-tribal Meiteis and tribal Kuki-Zos had erupted in the northeastern state on May 3 last year after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

So far, over 230 people have been killed in the strife.