IMPHAL: Four people including a Manipur police commando were shot dead and several others were injured in separate places in Bishnupur district, as violence continued in the northeastern state on Friday, officials said. While the policeman was killed in a gun battle with suspected militants at Moirang Turel Mapan in the evening, three others including a teenage boy lost their lives in the wee hours in villages near the border of Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts.


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Intermittent firing continued in the area since Thursday night between two communities. The police commando, identified as Pukhrambam Ranbir, was hit on the head during the exchange of fire and was injured. He was first taken to the district hospital from where he was referred to a hospital in Imphal but he died on the way, officials said.


Three people including the teenager were killed and several others injured in the villages of Kangvai, Songdo and Awang Lekhai - all of them on the border of two districts- in the early hours of Friday Mobs continued to block the movement of security forces in the area. Additional columns have been inducted from alternate routes to tackle the situation, officials said.


More than 100 people have lost their lives and over 3,000 injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.


Around 40,000 central security personnel, besides the Manipur Police, have been deployed to control the violence and bring back normalcy in the state.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribal Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.