India arrests 10 in strife-torn Manipur

NEW DELHI:

India arrested 10 people for violence, looting and robberies in Manipur, police said Friday, as the government intensifies efforts to restore normalcy to its northeastern state gripped by ethnic unrest since 2023.

The frontier state of Manipur, which shares a porous border with war-torn Myanmar, has seen periodic clashes between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki minority for nearly three years.

But the conflict, which has already killed more than 250 people since 2023, has also spread in recent months, also drawing in the Naga group.

India's National Investigation Agency said that the arrests were made across the state in a co-ordinated operation with local police and paramilitary forces.

The "accused had played active roles in various incidents of violence during the period of ethnic unrest in Manipur, including attacks on security forces, looting of arms and ammuni-tion, and bank robberies," it said in a statement.