Mother, injured son among 3 killed after ambulance set on fire in Manipur

An injured eightyearold boy was killed along with his mother and another relative when an ambulance with the three on board was waylaid by a mob and set ablaze in Manipurs West Imphal district officials saidThe incident occurred at Iroisemba on Sunday evening when the boy was being taken to a hospital by his mother and their relative in Imphal after he sustained a bullet injury in his head during a shootout they saidThree have been identified as Tonsing Hangsing 8 his 45yearold mother Meena Hangsing and Lydia Lourembam aged 37 the officials saidA senior Assam Rifles officer confirmed the incident and said security has been beefed up in and around the camp where it happenedSources said Tonsing the son of a tribal man and his Meitei mother were staying at an Assam Rifles relief camp at KangchupOn June 4 evening a gunfight started in the area and despite being in the camp he was hit by a bulletA senior Assam Rifles officer immediately spoke to police in Imphal and arranged for an ambulance Since the mother was from the majority community a decision was taken to take the kid to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal by road sources saidThe ambulance was under Assam Rifles escort for a few kilometres after which the local police took overAround 630 pm the ambulance was waylaid by civilians at Isoisemba and set ablaze All three in the vehicle were killed We still do not know where the bodies are one of the sources addedThe Kangchup area has several Kuki villages and is on Kangpokpi districts border with Imphal West close to the Meitei village of Phayeng The area has been seeing heavy exchange of fire in the second wave of violence across the state since May 27Violent clashes broke out in the northeastern state after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe ST statusThe clashes were preceded by tension over eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land which had led to a series of smaller agitationsMeiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districtsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever