Manipur violence: Fresh clashes at India-Myanmar border town Moreh

Guwahati: Amid the ongoing efforts to restore normalcy, a fresh incident of  violence came to light on Wednesday when a large mob of people torched nearly 30 abandoned houses and demolished several others in the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh on Wednesday morning.

Informing that a large mob of nearly 2,000 people comprising men and women launched an attack on Moreh Bazar, security sources said that the arson came hours after two buses used by security forces to transport security personnel were set on fire by a mob in Kangpokpi district.

The incident had occurred at Sapormeina when the buses were coming from Dimapur on Tuesday evening. Locals stopped the buses bearing Manipur registration numbers at Sapormeina and insisted that they would check if any member of another community were on board, the officials said. Some of them set the buses on fire.

Indicating that mob that came out in Moreh on Wednesday was backed by armed miscreants, security sources said that a combined team of Assam Rifle, Moreh Police, CDO and BSF are engaging in pushing back the mob and cross fire with Kuki militants who are suspected to have been backing the mob.

Top police officials said that the premises and the buildings attacked by the mob were the same that were already targeted in previous attacks. The mob backed by armed miscreants also targeted the forest office building at Moreh, security sources said.

Pointing out that most of the abandoned houses belonged to Meiteis who left the place after the violence in the state broke out on May 3, security sources did not rule out the  possibility of people from across the border (Myanmar)  being the part of the mob.

The authorities were tight-lipped on the identity of the people engaged in the attack. If local reports are to be believed, several private residences have been burnt down including that of a journalist. Situation continues to be tense.

Informing that security forces resorted to firing to disperse the mob and contain the arson, security sources however claimed that there was no report of casualty.