Imphal/New Delhi:

A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier who was killed in action in an attack by “suspected Kuki insurgents” on Sunday was scheduled to go home in Bihar on Monday, a policeman who shared a barrack with the CRPF soldier has said.

The policeman, in a video taken inside the barrack, said the 43-year-old CRPF soldier Ajoy Kumar Jha slept on a bed next to his. He was a resident of Madhubani in Bihar.

“This is his bed, just next to mine. He was the CRPF soldier who was killed in action,” the policeman said, pointing the camera on a hard bed on which a red luggage was kept. “He had packed his clothes. He was happy he would be going home tomorrow,” the policeman said.

“He had taken a pass to go home. See his bag and belongings, all neatly packed. It is very sad. I can’t believe he is no more. He was behind me when he was hit by the bullet,” the policeman said, referring to a “pass”, or approved paperwork for leave.

The Manipur Police in a statement said a joint patrol of the police and the CRPF in Jiribam district “was fired upon heavily with sophisticated weapons by suspected armed Kuki militants from multiple locations.”

The CRPF soldier was killed in the firing, while two Manipur Police personnel were injured. The two are being treated at a Jiribam hospital and are out of danger, the police said.

The police said reinforcements have arrived and are taking part in the combing operations. “The police department is monitoring the situation constantly and senior officers are in the district to supervise the security arrangement and also the ongoing combing operations,” the police said.

The CRPF in a post in Hindi on X said the paramilitary force “salutes our brave soldier’s indomitable courage, valour and devotion to the motherland… We stand with the family of our brave man.”

दिनांक 14 जुलाई 2024 को मणिपुर के जिरिबाम में 20 बटालियन #CRPF एवं राज्य पुलिस की संयुक्त पार्टी पर उग्रवादियों द्वारा घात लगाकर किए गए हमले में बहादुर कॉन्स्टेबल ड्राईवर अजय कुमार झा ने कर्तव्य की बलिवेदी पर अपने प्राणों की आहुति दी। #सीआरपीएफ अपने शूरवीर के अदम्य साहस, शौर्य… pic.twitter.com/mZMxO8jPNL

— CRPF (@crpfindia) July 14, 2024

Before today’s ambush by the suspected Kuki insurgents, tension in Jiribam had been high in recent weeks following fighting between the Meitei community and the Hmar tribes.

The district didn’t see violence for over a year since Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes began in May 2023; however, clashes erupted in Jiribam last month, forcing over a thousand people from both the communities to live in relief camps, some in neighbouring Assam.

The ethnic violence between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the nearly two dozen tribes that share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administrative carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.