As the situation continues to be tense in Manipur, two children were killed in a bomb attack by suspected Kuki militants on Tuesday. Officials said that suspected Kuki militants launched a bomb attack in Manipur's Bishnupur district, killing two toddlers while injuring their mother.
The incident occurred at around 1 AM when a bomb fired by suspected militants fell at a civilian house at Moirang Tronglaobi, killing a 5-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl.
All three were sleeping in their bedroom when the bomb exploded in the house. The incident happened in Moirang's Tronglaobi Awang Leikai, located along the sensitive hill-valley boundary.
In a statement condemning the attack, Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand called the attack "cowardly". He said that the "government will hunt down the perpetrators involved in the heinous crime and justice will be delivered at the earliest".
"Cutting across all community, ethnic and religious lines, all act of terrorism should be shunned immediately," he said, and appealed to the general public to refrain from activities such as bandh, blockade and vandalism of public properties, which may further aggravate the hardship faced by the public.
Khemchand also visited the injured mother at Raj Medicity in Imphal, where she is being treated.
Local BJP MLA Th Shanti Singh has strongly condemned the “brutal attack” at Tronglaobi Awang Leikai, “allegedly carried out by Kuki narco-terrorists”.
"This heinous act is nothing less than an act of terrorism. Such inhuman acts have no place in our society and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms," he said.
“I offer my heartfelt tributes to the innocent lives lost - a 5-year-old boy and a 5-month-old baby girl - taken away in such a cold-blooded manner. My deepest condolences go out to the bereaved family during this unimaginable time of grief,” the MLA said.
According to reports, residents heard a loud explosion echoed across the village, triggering panic. The injured were rushed to a hospital in Imphal, but the two children succumbed during treatment. Binita is currently undergoing treatment for splinter injuries and remains critical.
In a statement, however, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) rejected the allegations, calling them "baseless" and "unsupported by any credible evidence".
"We emphasize that any untoward incident affecting the Meitei community should not be automatically attributed to the Kuki-Zo people without proper investigation. Such assumptions only fuel misunderstanding and tension. The buffer zones between Kuki-Zo and Meitei areas are heavily guarded by security forces, making it virtually impossible for Kuki-Zo individuals to cross undetected to carry out any form of attack or to plant explosive devices in Meitei localities.. Moreover, the nearest Kuki village to Tronglaobi, Gelmol, is abandoned and currently occupied by CRPF personnel, further disproving these allegations," it said in a statement.