By IRNA
Guwahati : Two more migrant workers injured in violent attacks in India’s restive northeastern state of Manipur succumbed to their injuries overnight, taking the toll to 14 in the latest in a string of incidents of what appear to be a series of ethnically motivated strikes, officials Wednesday said.
A police spokesman said two persons, both Hindi-speaking petty traders, died at a hospital late Tuesday after they were shot at with automatic weapons.
“There were about six separate attacks since Monday night in which 14 people were killed, all of them non-Manipuri traders, daily wage earners, and hawkers,” a senior police official said requesting not to be named.
At least 12 of the victims were identified by the authorities as originally hailing from the eastern Bihar state.
“The state government would not spare the culprits who belong to a particular underground group and their identity would be made known to the public very soon,” Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told journalists Wednesday.
Police said suspects the attacks were carried out either by the outlawed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) or the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL).
“We are investigating the matter and have some leads already although it would be premature to disclose now,” L. Kailul, police chief of Imphal West district, said by telephone.
The two banned groups are both fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Metei community in the state of 2.4 million people.
Militants after gunning down the victims wrote in bold letters on the back of their shirts saying “Go back to your state”, an indication that the killings were carried out as part of a broader design aimed at freeing the state of migrant workers from outside the state.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, which echoed shootings this month in the neighbouring state of Assam, where a long-running separatist movement has periodically targeted non- ethnic Assamese, most of them from Bihar, who come to the state for work.
“We have put security forces on a maximum alert with special instructions given to the police to keep vigil and ensure the safety of people who have come from outside the state to work here,” the chief minister said.
There are more than 19 militant groups active in Manipur, bordering Myanmar, with demands ranging from greater autonomy to independence.