Imphal/Guwahati:
An elderly farmer from the Meitei community was shot at by suspected Kuki insurgents in Manipur’s Bishnupur district today, police sources told NDTV.
The incident happened at 3 pm in a paddy field in Phubala village, they said.
The farmer, N Dhiren, suffered a bullet injury in his arm. At a hospital where he has been admitted, Mr Dhiren said at least five shots were fired.
Phubala residents said other farmers from the Meitei community who were working in the fields ran for cover on hearing the gunshots. They alleged similar shooting incidents have happened many times in Phubala in the last two years.
A villager who said he managed to run to safety narrated that he saw light smoke and muzzle flashes from the firearms used by the suspected Kuki insurgents.
“They came down, crossed the high canal and opened fire. I was sitting and preparing to pinch khaini when it happened. I clearly saw smoke from the muzzles; tried to carry Dhiren [injured farmer] but had to lie flat. I wouldn’t have been alive if I was standing,” the witness said in a video statement standing at the spot where the incident happened.
The security forces have rushed to the area.
There are two canals in the Phubala-Naranseina area – low and high canals. The distance from the low canal to the high canal is 800 metres, and from the high canal to the foothills is another 800 metres. So the foothills are approximately 1.6 km from the low canal.
However, the distance from the low canal to some areas where the paddy fields cut into the foothills is nearly 2 km.
More villagers have alleged the suspected Kuki insurgents must have walked down till the area between the low and high canals before opening fire, as that would have put the low canal area within their gun range.
