India: 10 people killed in attack on police station in Manipur

Indian police said they had killed at least ten people on Monday presented as insurgents from the Kuki ethnic group who had stormed a police station in the state of Manipur (north-east).

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A police officer was injured “while repelling the attack” and “the bodies of ten miscreants have been found so far,” Jiribam district deputy police chief Krishna Kumar told AFP.

Since May 2023, Manipur has been the scene of violence between the Hindu majority Meitei and the Kuki community, mainly Christian.

Each of the two populations, in conflict for the control of land and the allocation of public jobs, formed armed militias and erected barricades to deny their rival access to the areas under their control.

This violence was relaunched in September by a series of drone attacks and rocket attacks which left at least 11 dead.

This wave of violence forced local authorities to close schools and interrupt the internet for several days.

Human rights NGOs accuse state authorities, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ultranationalist Hindu party, of exacerbating the conflict for the benefit of the Hindu majority.