A fresh spate of violence has engulfed Manipur since November 7 in which at least 20 people have been killed so far. Two more bodies were found floating in a river at Lakhipur in Assam on Sunday, November 17.  
According to a police statement, on November 11, three women and three children, including an eight-month-old baby, were allegedly abducted and two elderly persons were burnt to death by armed miscreants during an encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the police in Manipur’s Jiribam district. Five bodies have been found so far, including that of the eight-month-old baby.  
The people who were abducted were part of a group of 13 Meitei people who were displaced from their homes in June and were living near the CRPF camp at Jakuradhor and Borobekra police station for their safety. 
The body of a 27-year-old man from the Kuki-Zo community was also recovered in Jiribam on Saturday, November 16. 
More than 250 people have been killed in the ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo-Hmar people and the Meitei community in the State since May 3, 2023. 
Army and Assam Rifles were deployed in Imphal to “strengthen the security situation”, police said. 
In the wake of the unrest, Union Home Minister Amit Shah cancelled four election rallies in poll-bound Maharashtra. He reviewed the security situation in the northeastern State with senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and another security review meeting is scheduled for Monday, a senior government official said. 
Mobile internet has been suspended, and a curfew has been imposed in some districts of Manipur because of the violence. 
On November 14, the MHA re-imposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jiribam, bordering Assam and the limits of five other police stations, to allow the Army to conduct security operations without waiting for the arrival or permission from a magistrate and the local police. 
On Saturday, the homes and properties of at least 13 political leaders, cutting across party lines, were vandalised or burnt down by angry protestors in the valley districts.