Imphal : Three youths lost their lives in the fresh ethnic violence at the foothills of  Thawai (Thowai) Kuki village under the Litan police station in Manipur’s Ukhrul district on  Friday morning. The flesh communal carnage is reported after Chief Minister N Biren Singh recently announcing of restoring peace and normalcy in this strife-torn state.

Official sources said that the miscreants suspected to be the Meitei armed guards are reported to have approached the Kuki village from the hills to the East, where they engaged in a gunfight with the village guards at around 4.30 am on Friday.

The bodies of the deceased villagers were found in multiple bullet injuries at the village bunkers after a hectic search by Civil Social Organisations and villagers, the sources said.

Deceased persons are identified as Jamkhogin Haokip (26), Thangkhokai Haokip (35), and Hollenson Baite (24). The Thowai Kuki village is about 4 km from where many Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribe take shelter in Mongkot Chephu Government High School, PWD Bungalow, Veterinary Dispensary and Church building at Litan Sareikhong Village. This village is near the Kuki villages of Zalenbung, Shangkai, Mongkot Chepu, Jalembunge, etc.

Manipur is on the boil after ethnic violence between the Kukis and Meiteis on May 3 in which over 150 individuals lost their lives and over 60,000 persons are displaced.