Post-mortem on militants killed in Manipur shows fatal bullet wounds

The reports detailed many of the wound trajectories suggesting that the bullets hit them from behind. Security officials had said that the armed militants were killed in “retaliatory fire” by the CRPF

d Hospital. | Photo Credit: ANI

The bodies of 10 armed militants from the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community, who were killed in an alleged gunfight with the Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) in Manipur’s Jiribam last month, had been riddled with multiple fatal bullet injuries, including in their heads, according to the preliminary post-mortem examinations conducted on their remains at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SCMH) in Assam.

The reports from the SMCH identified the deceased men as Ramneilien, 29, Fimlien Kung Ngurte, 31, Elvis Lalropei Zote, 21, Lalthanei, 22, Joseph Lalditum, 19, Francis Lalzarlien, 25, Roulneisang, 30, Lalsiemlien Hmar, 30, Henry Lalsanglien, 25, and Robert Lalnuntluong, a minor aged 16.

As per the examination of the deceased militants, the bodies of Ngurte, Lalzarlien, Hmar, and Lalsanglien, had one eye each that appeared severely damaged. The reports detailed many of the wound trajectories suggesting that the bullets hit them from behind.

CRPF DG Anish Dayal Singh did not respond to queries from The Hindu about the nature of injuries found in the post-mortem examination reports.

In all the reports, the cause of death had been kept pending till the chemical analysis reports on their viscera were received from the Directorate of Forensic Sciences in Guwahati.

On November 11, security officials in Manipur said that the armed militants were killed in “retaliatory fire” by the CRPF when an outpost had come under attack near Borobekra police station in Jiribam district, which borders Assam’s Cachar district.

The Kuki-Zo Council, a coalition of civil society organisations (CSO) of the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people, has maintained that the men killed were “Kuki-Zo village volunteers”, even as security sources insisted that the men were not from Jiribam but were from neighbouring Churachandpur and Pherzawl districts.

Three women and three children, including an eight-month-old, from the Meitei community were abducted by armed militants in the incident, all of whom were found dead in the nearby Barak River in the following days, the police had said.

The procedure was conducted on six of the deceased on November 12, a day after the gunfight, whereas four of the bodies reached the hospital only on November 14. The post-mortem examination reports went on to say that most of the bodies had either camouflage or khaki-coloured T-shirts, with others found dressed either in black or olive green.

The funeral rites of these 10 deceased men along with two other Kuki-Zo men will be held in Manipur’s Churachandpur district on Thursday (December 5), according to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a Churachandpur-based CSO.

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