International Desk

Five persons were killed as a fresh round of violence erupted in India’s ethnic strife-torn north eastern Indian state Manipur's Jiribam district on Saturday.

One person was shot dead in his sleep while four armed persons were killed in a subsequent gun battle, a police officer said.

Militants stormed the house of the person who lived alone in an isolated location around 5 km from the district headquarters and shot him dead in his sleep, he said.

After the killing, a heavy exchange of fire broke out between armed men of the warring communities in the hills around 7 km from the district headquarters, leading to the deaths of four armed persons, including three hills-based militants, the officer said.

Today’s killings came a day after two rockets were fired by suspected militants that left one person dead, an incident that forced authorities to shut educational institutions.

On Friday, suspected militants fired two rockets in ethnic strife-torn north eastern Indian state of Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Friday, killing a man and injuring five persons as tension gripped the Imphal Valley region following high-tech attacks over the past few days.

This is the first time drones and rockets were used in the state where ethnic violence left over 200 people dead and nearly 50,000 homeless since the conflict between majority Meteis and Kuki-Zo erupted in May last year.

The rocket attacks came close on the heels of the use of drones to drop crude bombs on people at two nearby places in Imphal West district earlier this week.

The rockets were fired on a day when thousands of people across five districts of Metei-majority Imphal Valley formed human chains on Friday to protest the strikes by militants.

The Manipur government announced the closure of schools on Saturday in view of the situation arising out of the drone-bomb and rocket attacks.

Officials said that Friday's first rocket attack was reported from Tronglaobi in Bishnupur district, damaging two structures. The second rocket fell on the compound of former chief minister Mairembam Koireng’s residence in Moirang town, killing a 72-year-old man and injuring five others including a 13-year-old girl.

Officials said the rocket missiles were locally improvised and were fired from elevated Thangjing hill ranges of Churachandpur district towards Moirang town.

Following the two attacks within a gap of around 10 hours, all markets and business establishments were shut down in Moirang town and the rest of Bishnupur district and border areas of nearby districts of the state.

The attacks have revealed loopholes in the security system that have been laid down in the state to contain the conflict, an official said.

Local lawmaker T Shanti and minister L Sushinro Meitei visited the incident site and interacted with the locals.

"The people are clueless now. Earlier, when there was a gun attack, village volunteers who guarded peripheral villages retaliated to prevent the militants from advancing further. However, this is a new form of warfare, for which no one is prepared," a local village volunteer said.

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of valley-based civil bodies, has declared a "public emergency" across the five districts of Imphal valley with immediate effect.

It said "the government cannot be further trusted to protect the lives of people. The public must decide its own way to protect themselves.”

COCOMI also organised human chains in which school and college students, as well as women from various localities in Imphal West district raised slogans condemning the recent attacks in Koutruk and Senjam Chirang.