Nine people have been killed and the residence of Nemcha Kipgen, state minister for Textiles, Commerce & Industry and Cooperation, set on fire as a fresh spate of violence gripped the restive state since Tuesday.
Nine persons were killed in firing and arson-related incidents in Aigejang village on Tuesday. Twenty four hours later, Nemcha Kipgen’s residence was set on fire in Imphal East on Wednesday evening.
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While the Kangpokpi area is largely dominated by Kuki tribes, Meiteis dominate Imphal East.
This is the highest number of deaths recorded in the second wave of violence in Manipur. The nine bodies that were recovered were Meiteis while the Aigejang village is a Kuki village, the police said.
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The eight victims were identified as Moirangthem Heman Singh, Laishram Naithobi Devi, Y. Surjitkumar, RK Prasanta, Konjengbam Sangkar Singh, Haobijam Somenkumar Singh, and Laishram Suresh. The bodies were later taken to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal.
Kipgen, Manipur’s only female minister, was not at home when the quarter was attacked by the mob.
The minister is one of the state’s 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs, and has been away from Imphal since the outbreak of the violence last month.
The initial clashes began from May 3 to 5 after a conflict between the Meitei and Kuki tribes. Since then, reports of ethnic violence have continued to emerge in various districts of Manipur.