Manipur Students Playing Football Near Foothill Shot At, Hide In Bushes

Students take shelter near a stream amid gunfire near a foothill in Manipur

Imphal/New Delhi:

The crack and whizz of bullets pierced the quiet evening. Some school students took cover along a treeline behind a stream. In a video, with the sound of rapid gunfire audible, one of them is heard telling his friends, “That was very close”.

The incident happened on a day when Manipur reported gunfights at many areas between rival armed groups – who call themselves “village defence volunteers” – amid the ethnic tensions between the hill-majority Kuki-Zo tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis.

The students in the video said they were playing football in a field near the foothills in Santipur-Pukhao when they first heard the whizz of bullets flying near them, followed by the crackling of bullets as the rounds got nearer and nearer.