Manipur on high alert over intelligence report on influx of 900 tribal rebels from Myanmar

Guwahati: In what has triggered a panic, intelligence agencies have issued a major alert in trouble-torn Manipur suggesting that a gang of nearly 900 newly trained Kuki militants have infiltrated into the state from Myanmar.

The purported intelligence alert, about influx of 900-odd tribal militants from Myanmar - all newly trained in use of drones, projectiles and missiles as part of a mission to launch coordinated attacks on villages in the Imphal valley around September 28 has been forwarded to cops by the office of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh.

Referring to the intelligence alert, the security adviser to the BJP-led government Mr Kuldiep Singh, said, “Until this intelligence input is proved wrong, we believe it is 100 percent correct and preparing to foil it.”

“If it does not come true, either it didn't happen or our efforts didn't let it happen. Either way, you cannot take it lightly,” said the ex-CRPF director general on deputation to Manipur since the ethnic conflict broke out in mid-2023.

The September 16 alert from the CMO states that tribal militants "are reportedly grouped in units of 30 members each and currently scattered on the periphery, and expected to launch multiple coordinated attacks".

The security adviser said that the districts and border units of Manipur Police and Assam Rifles were on maximum alert.

Mr Singh said that in the wake of the intelligence alert a meeting of the strategic operations group was also held on September 18 which planned strategy and communicated to the relevant agencies with a directive that any movement of militants be "nipped in the bud". The districts on high alert are Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, Ukhrul, Kamjong and Pherzawl.

Mr Singh said that traditional combing operations focus on seizing arms, but there was now "increased scrutiny" of materials used to manufacture rockets, missiles, drone components, and batteries.

The district magistrates have also been alerted and asked to check stocks of explosives with licensed owners. All connected roads and villages within a 5 km radius of the hills are also being checked for stockpiles.

The security adviser also pointed out that of the 2,681 weapons seized by security forces since the conflict started, one-third were in the hills and two-thirds in the valley.

“The availability of weapons in society in both the hills and the valley is not because of looting (from state armouries and police stations). They were already available much before (the ethnic conflict began). Single-barrel breech loaders and double-barrel breech loaders were there, some of them licensed and some manufactured illegally,” he said.

The influx of newly trained Kuki rebels from Myanmar has created fresh tension between ethnic majority Meiteis and the Kukis communities that have rocked the north-eastern state for more than a year.