Manipur: Assam rifles' soldier injured diffusing improvised bomb

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A soldier from the Assam Rifles was injured while diffusing an improvised bomb in Saitan village in Manipur's Bishnupur district Friday morning, about 60 km south of Imphal, officials said.

A defence spokesperson said that the crude bomb was locally fabricated and the soldier who was trying to diffuse it did not suffer major injuries.

A day before, a policeman was killed and four others injured when suspected militants opened fire at them near Tera Khongfangbi also in Bishnupur district.

Since then police and army personnel had launched a combing operation to flush out the militants from the area, officials said.

Violent clashes had broken out in the northeastern state after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

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The clashes were preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations and tension between the Meiteis and Kukis.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals -- Nagas and Kukis -- constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.

A total of 128 columns of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles or nearly 10,000 soldiers have been deployed in the affected areas.

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