Meira Paibis, a collective of Meitei women, on Friday staged sit-in demonstrations across five districts of Imphal Valley in protest against the alleged gang rape of a 37-year-old woman in Churachandpur on May 3, when the ongoing ethnic violence started.
The Manipur police said all personnel of the force from top to bottom are united and any attack on anyone and use of social media to target any officer or unit will be taken seriously and stringent action will be taken.
Officials added that one INSAS light machine gun was recovered by the forces during initial search.
A tagline below this adds "feel free to do so", an indication that questions will not be asked how the weapons were in their possession of those who drop by in the first place.
In a fresh round of violence in ethnic strife-torn Manipur, mutilated bodies of three youths were found following heavy gunfire at Kuki Thowai village in Ukhrul district on Friday, officials said.
At least 25 miscreants with arms, ammunition and grenades have been rounded up by Indian Army and paramilitary forces across ethnic-strife riven Manipur, officials said on Monday.
Women are on a sit-in at Chikim village, around 3 km from Tengnoupal district's Moreh, a Kuki majority town.
Over 25 people were injured in clashes as Indian Army and Rapid Action Force personnel fired tear gas shells in Kangvai and Phougakchao areas in Bishnupur district on Thursday to stop processions from proceeding to the proposed burial site violating restrictions on gatherings.
The Kukis have already declared that they are not fielding any candidate in the parliamentary polls as an act of boycott.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Tuesday said his government will provide a one-time assistance of Rs 1000 to those living in relief camps because of ethnic rioting in the state.
The latest clashes began after the army and para-military forces commenced combing operations to de-arm communities in order to bring peace, officials said.
Fifteen houses were set on fire in Manipur's Imphal West district where fresh violence broke out, officials said on Sunday.
Security forces columns, which were immediately deployed in these "vacant" villages, responded cautiously to avoid any collateral damage.
Altogether 45 students were injured in Manipur's Imphal Valley on Tuesday as the police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged a mob protesting against the killing of two youths who were allegedly kidnapped in July, officials said.
"I fear I won't perform well in the class 10 board examination next year, which might affect my dreams of enrolling in a good school in Imphal," Karam said.
State security advisor Kuldiep Singh said that lawful action will be taken against those displaying firearms at the parade.
A mob tried to attack Chief Minister N Biren Singh's empty ancestral house on Thursday night, despite a security clampdown and curfew in the Imphal valley.
Violent protests over the death of two youths in Manipur continued till the early hours of Thursday with a mob vandalising the deputy commissioner's office in Imphal West and torching two four-wheelers, officials said.
Business establishments remained closed on Tuesday morning and people were asked by security personnel to remain indoors through the public address system in New Chekon area of Imphal East district, where a mob torched two houses after four armed people, including a former MLA, forced people to shut their shops on Monday.
The situation in minority-dominated Lilong Chingjao area in Manipur's Thoubal district, where four villagers were gunned down by unidentified assailants, remained calm but tense on Tuesday as additional security forces were deployed, an official said.
Life in the north-eastern state of Manipur continued to limp back to normal as curfew was relaxed in 11 districts, including Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur and Jiribam, for six hours from 5 am, as no fresh incident of violence was reported, officials said on Wednesday.
'Who is the aggressor and who is the victim is not clear, each blames the other.'
Security forces fired several rounds in the air to disperse the mob, officials said.
Terming such 'unwarranted interference' detrimental to the timely response by security forces, the Army's Spears Corps shared a video on Twitter late on Monday of some such incidents.
A statement issued by the Manipur police stated that the state police and central forces conducted a search operation in Tamenglong, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Kangpokpi, Churachandpur and Kakching districts and destroyed 12 bunkers both in the Hill and the Valley.
The video of the burning man was shot on May 4, the same day when two women were paraded naked by a mob, the footage of which sparked nationwide outrage after it surfaced in July. The ethnic strife in Manipur began on May 3.
The mob also tried to snatch weapons from the police, forcing them to fire at the crowd. No casualty was reported so far, the sources said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has formed a 10-member special investigation team (SIT) under a DIG-rank officer to probe six cases related to the Manipur violence referred to it by the state government, officials said on Friday.
"Keeping in view the sensitivity of the use of kinetic force against a large irate mob and envisaged casualties due to such action, the officer on the ground made a considerate decision to hand over all 12 cadres to the local leader. Own columns lifted the cordon and left the area with weapons and war-like stores, recovered from insurgents," it read.
Parents of both the murdered youths, viral pictures of whose bodies caused widespread protests in Imphal valley for two days, on Thursday pleaded with authorities to locate the remains of their children so that the last rights of the boy and the girl can be conducted 'with the dignity they deserve'.
'Everyone's voice must be heard. We will be talking to both Kukis and Meiteis'
The development came two days after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that a decision has been taken to provide security to the farmers who will start the cropping season.
Two abandoned houses were set on fire by unidentified people in Manipur's Imphal West district in the early hours of Wednesday, an official said.
This comes after 10 Kuki MLAs, cutting across party affiliations, had expressed their inability to attend the assembly session as violence in the northeastern state continued.
The death toll from clashes a day before rose to five on Monday as three more people, who were undergoing treatment in hospitals, succumbed to their injuries, they said.
The mother of one of the girls who was stripped naked and paraded by a mob in Manipur wants capital punishment for the culprits and to see the remains of her son and husband who too died on that day.
A group of people tried to gherao the residence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh in Imphal East district claiming that the government in the strife-torn state is not doing enough to protect locals from militants belonging to another community, officials said on Friday.
Security forces which tried to quell the mob were forced to use force and fired tear gas shells at the mob at New Checkon in Imphal, they added.
Over seven months of violence severely hit businesses, schools, colleges and other institutions, besides disrupting transportation and communication networks. It also affected the agrarian sector, considered the mainstay of the state economy.
The surrendered weapons included self-loading rifles, carbine, AK and INSAS rifles, light machine guns, pistols, M16 rifles, smoke gun/tear gas, sten gun and grenade launcher.
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