Imphal: The Indian Army released a dozen militants in Manipur’s Itham village in Imphal East after a mob of over 1200 people led by women gheraoed them. The Army said the militants were released to ensure the safety of the civilians and end the nearly day-long stand-off.

In a statement, the Army said 12 KYKL cadres were apprehended in Itham village (06 km East of Andro) in Imphal East along with arms, ammunition, and war-like stores.

The operation was undertaken based on specific intelligence and a specific search was launched after laying a cordon was undertaken to avoid hardships to other locals in the area.

In the ensuing operation, positive identification of self-styled Lt Col Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam—the mastermind of 6 DOGRA ambush case of 2015— amongst the 12 apprehended cadres was done.

However, a mob of approximately 1200- 1500 led by women and the local leaders immediately surrounded the target area and prevented the security forces from going ahead with the operation.

Repeated appeals to the aggressive mob to let the security forces carry on with operation as per law did not yield any positive result, the statement said.

“Keeping in view the sensitivity of the use of kinetic force against a large irate mob led by women and likely casualties due to such action, a considered decision was taken to hand over all 12 cadres to the local leader,” the Army said.

The Army lauded the decision of the Operational Commander. “Mature decision on the part of the Operational Commander shows the humane face of the Indian Army to avoid any collateral damage during the ongoing unrest in Manipur,” it said.

For over a month, Manipur has been reeling under persistent ethnic violence between the Meiteis, residing in and around the state capital Imphal Valley, and the Kuki tribe, settled in the hills.

The situation went out of hand after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' on May 3 in Manipur's hill districts.

Massive clashes erupted in the region as a response to the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

The unrest in Manipur was preceded by conflicts arising from the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had triggered a series of smaller protests.

The confrontations between the two ethnic communities have resulted in the loss of over 100 lives.