Imphal: Four civilians were killed and 14 others wounded after unidentified gunmen armed with rifles started shooting at a group of people in Thoubal District in Manipur.

The shooting in Lilong Chingjao, a Meitei Pangal(Manipuri muslim) area in Thoubal district began at around 7:30pm on Monday, New Years eve.

According to locals, unidentified gunmen fully dressed with camouflage arrived in four Maruti Gypsy cars. The gunmen entered a house of one Md Hassan and tried to kidnap him, however, locals stormed the said house and a scuffle occured, in which the gunmen began firing at the people and escaped on foot from the area.

In the shooting, three civilians died on the spot and one succumbed to injuries later in hospital. Eight wounded in the shooting were immediately rushed to Noor hospital and another six to Amina hospital in Lilong. Later, some of the wounded were referred to Raj-Medicity in Imphal and are undergoing further treatment.

Angry over the incident, locals burned the four Gypsy Cars, which the gunmen used to come.

The deceased are identified as 55 year old Makakmayum Sirajuddin from Lilong Nungei Ching, 25 year old Hussain Makakmayum from Lilong Chingjao, 35 year old Makamayum Apikpa and Md Dawood from Sangaiyumpham. The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences for post mortem.

After the shooting, State police and CRPF personnel immediately rushed to the area and took up heavy security measures to prevent any unwanted incident arising out of the incident.

On Tuesday, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh visited Raj Medicity and met those injured during an unfortunate incident at Lilong on Monday.

Biren, coming out strongly against anyone taking the law into their own hands, warned that the government will not remain silent and will definitely take actions against anyone taking the law into their own hands.

“These elements should be held responsible, if the government takes any stringent action including reimposition of the unwanted AFSPA”, he said.

Saying that Manipur is passing through a very crucial period, the Chief Minister questioned the rationality in inciting hatred and fighting among the people instead of unitedly facing those who are trying hard to break the State apart.

The Manipur CM calls on the people to identify the enemies of Manipur and to face them unitedly. Urging people against taking the law into their own hands, the Biren also appealed to the people to inform or complain to the authorities concerned, if they find anything suspicious so that the authorities can take immediate necessary actions.

During the visit to the hospitals, the Chief Minister was accompanied by Ministers, MLAs and other top officials.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest banned outfits of Manipur, the Revolutionary People's Front in a press release said its Special Task Force, which was formed in July 1998 to fight against drugs, on Monday evening carried out a raid and caught a drug smuggler named  Md. Hassan, who had been warned several times not to do drug smuggling, from Lilong Chingjao in Thoubal District. As the team was arresting him, locals of the area stormed the house of the said drug smuggler and tried to snatch the arms from the RPF’s Task Force ''.

The statement further claimed that the task force first fired several rounds of bullets in the air to prevent the locals from the area. However, the locals did not back down so the task force members left Hasan at his house and started leaving the area, but some gunmen from the storming locals fired towards them. In an attempt to save themselves and as a defensive measure, they fired some rounds of bullets towards the shooting side and escaped from the area.

In the statement, the outfit expressed its condolences for the death and injury caused during the arrest of Hasan and also clarified that the outfit will conduct an inquiry regarding the incident.