Imphal, April 7 Two children were killed and their mother was injured in a bomb attack in the Bishnupur district of Manipur on Tuesday, triggering protests by locals, police said.
The incident occurred around 1 am when a suspected militant threw a bomb at a house in the Moirang Tronglaobi area, killing a 5-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl, a senior officer said.
The two children and their mother were sleeping in their bedroom when the bomb exploded in the house, he said.
Locals staged a protest this morning and set fire to two oil tankers and a truck near a petrol pump in the area. They also burned tires in front of the Moirang Police Station and destroyed a makeshift police outpost.
Security forces have been deployed in the area to control the situation, the officer said.
The low-lying Moirang Tronglaobi is located near the hill areas of Churachandpur and has witnessed consistent gunfire during the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo groups in 2023 and 2024.
An explosive device was also recovered in a nearby area of Tronglaobi on Tuesday, another senior officer said.
Local NPP MLA, Th Shanti Singh, condemned the "brutal attack at Tronglaobi, allegedly carried out by Kuki drug 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.
More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.