Three migrant workers killed in Manipur

Imphal, June 14 , Three migrant workers were killed and as many injured in an attack by militants in Manipur, police said Friday.

A group of heavily armed militants attacked the daily wage earners late Thursday outside the Agriculture University complex on the outskirts of capital Imphal.

“Three militants armed with sophisticated weapons entered a makeshift tent outside the University complex and asked all the non-Manipuri workers to come out. Six of them came out and the militants shot them from close range,” police spokesperson J. Singh said.

Three of them died on the spot and the remaining managed to escape, although all of them sustained bullet injuries.

“The victims, all of them from outside Manipur, were engaged by local contractors for construction work in the university campus,” the official said.

The condition of at least two of the injured was stated to be critical.

The immediate provocation for the attack was not known but of late there has been an attack on either Hindi speakers or workers from outside Manipur. At least 20 of them have been killed since February in separate incidents in the state.

There are some 19-odd militant groups active in Manipur, bordering Myanmar, with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy.