A soldier from the 4th Mahar Regiment sustained a minor bullet injury on Sunday while responding to an attack by suspected Kuki militants targeting farmers harvesting paddy in Sanasabi, a Meitei-inhabited area in Manipur’s Imphal East district.

According to police, the suspected Kuki militants launched an assault on farmers in the fields of Sanasabi Loukol and Thamnapokpi, an adjacent village under Yaingangpokpi police station, around 10 a.m. in the morning. The Imphal East district police, along with the 4th Mahar Regiment and the 119th Battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF), retaliated, sparking a gunfight that lasted approximately 40 minutes.

A police official from Imphal East confirmed, “During the exchange, one jawan sustained a minor injury to his left arm, which was treated with first aid at the site.” The incident follows a separate attack on Saturday night when suspected Kuki militants fired upon the same area, including Thamnapokpi and Sanasabi, around 9:30 p.m. That attack continued until around 2 a.m. Sunday, but no injuries were reported.

Violence in Manipur escalated recently after a 31-year-old woman was killed on Friday in an attack by alleged militants in Jiribam district. On Saturday, another 34-year-old woman succumbed to bullet injuries sustained while working in paddy fields in Bishnupur district’s Saiton Watha Lambu area.

In another clash on Saturday night, militants from three Kuki villages reportedly used sophisticated weapons, including explosives, in an assault on the Meitei village of Mongbung in Jiribam District around 9:30 p.m., with exchanges continuing until early morning. No injuries were reported in this incident.

Gunfire was also reported near Saiton village in Bishnupur district, where combined state and central security forces engaged with suspected Kuki militants on Saturday night. The confrontation led to continued sporadic firing until Sunday morning.