Three persons were found dead in Manipur’s Churachandpur district on Thursday. Four persons went missing while collecting firewood in a forest and one is still missing, said the police officials.
The three persons were suspected to be killed by militants, a police officer said.
They said four people from Akasoi in Bishnupur district went missing on Wednesday afternoon when they had gone to the nearby hills in Churachandpur to collect firewood.
Two of the three who were found dead were father and son. The bodies of Ibomcha Singh, 51, and his son Anand Singh, 20, and 38-year-old Romen Singh were found near Haotak Phailen, police said.
A search is on for the other missing person, identified as Dara Singh, they said.
Arms, explosives seized in Manipur
Huge cache of arms and explosives were seized from Manipur’s Churachandpur and Tengnoupal districts, police said on Thursday. In Churachandpur district, the security forces seized a carbine, a country-made 9 mm pistol, five single barrel guns, eight HE-36 hand grenades, six tear gas shells and several ammunitions for 9 mm pistol and M1 Carbine on January 9, they said. In Tengnoupal district, four HE-36 grenades, an unserviceable AK-56 rifle, five country-made shotguns, five crude bombs, four IEDs, a country-made mortar and ammunitions for AK-56 rifle on January 6, police said.
Search operations were continuing in vulnerable areas of Imphal West, Kakching, Bishnupur, Thoubal, Imphal East and Churachandpur districts for arms and ammunition, police said.
The state has been rocked by ethnic violence since May 3 last year when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for ST status. More than 180 people have been killed and several hundreds injured so far in the ethnic violence.
(With PTI inputs)