Manipur: Mob Sets Warehouse On Fire In Imphal, Clashes With Rapid Action Force

Police deployed tear gas shells to disperse the group, believing it might attack nearby houses.

Flames and smoke billows out after an old warehouse owned by a retired bureaucrat set ablaze amid violence in Manipur.

Source : PTI

After torching a warehouse, a riotous mob battled with Manipur's Rapid Action Force in Imphal on Friday evening. Police deployed tear gas shells to disperse the group, believing it might attack nearby houses, news agency PTI reported.

"The riot occurred near the Imphal palace grounds," officials were quoted by PTI in its report.

Firefighters and security officials hurried to the scene, bringing the warehouse fire under control and preventing it from spreading to surrounding residences.

The land belonged to a retired senior IAS official from the tribal tribe.

Earlier last night, a crowd vandalised Union Minister of State for External Affairs R K Ranjan Singh's residence in Imphal town and attempted to burn it down, according to authorities.

This comes following the burning of two houses and fights between the Rapid Action Force of Manipur and a crowd on Thursday afternoon in the heart of Imphal metropolis.

According to authorities, the crowd that roamed the area late Thursday night battled with security officers.  

In response to the developments, RK Ranjan Singh informed PTI: “I am trying to bring peace and stop violence since May 3 (when ethnic clashes began in the state) … this is all a misunderstanding between two communities. The government has set up a peace committee, the process is on. Civil society leaders are sitting together.”

Earlier on Tuesday night, at least nine villagers were killed and 10 others injured when suspected militants attacked Khamelock village in Imphal East district and fired indiscriminately, police said, in the latest case of violence from the state which has been rocked by violence after major ethnic clashes erupted in May. 

The victims were either sleeping or just finished their dinner when the extremists rained bullets from their sophisticated arms. The injured were immediately taken to various hospitals. The toll is likely to increase as the condition of several of the wounded is stated to be critical, the news agency said.