Shillong, August 4: In a troubling incident, around 500 individuals, using over 40 vehicles and traveling on foot, attacked an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) camp in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Thursday. The attackers overpowered the sentry at the main gate and quarter guard, gaining access to the camp around 9:45 am.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, according to the complaint filed at Moirang police station by 2nd IRB battalion quarter master O Premananda Singh, the attackers broke into the battalion’s armory, looting a significant quantity of arms, ammunition, and munitions. In their bid to control the mob, security forces fired 320 rounds of ammunition and 20 tear smoke shells.
The annexure attached to the complaint listed the looted items, which included assault rifles, pistols, magazines, mortars, detonators, hand grenades, bombs, carbines, light machine guns, and over 19,000 rounds of ammunition. The stolen arms included one AK series assault rifle, 25 INSAS rifles, 4 Ghatak rifles, 5 INSAS LMGs, 5 MP-5 rifles, 124 hand grenades, 21 SMC carbines, 195 SLRs, 16 9mm pistols, 134 detonators, 23 GF rifles, and 81 51mm HE bombs.
Earlier incidents of mobs storming police stations and armorers have resulted in the looting of around 4,000 weapons and 500,000 rounds of ammunition since ethnic violence between the Metei and Kuki communities began on May 3. The violence has caused 150 fatalities and displaced nearly 50,000 people.
Despite tightened security measures, only around 1,000 of the looted arms have been recovered until the end of last month. The recent arms loot in Bishnupur adds to the ongoing tension in the region. Furthermore, a proposed mass burial of Kuki victims in Churachandpur was postponed for a week due to the prevailing situation.