Country-made rockets, mortars, ammunition found in violence-hit Manipur

The Indian Army, in a joint operation, recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the violence-hit Churachandpur district of Manipur, officials said on Tuesday.
Acting upon intelligence inputs, the joint team, comprising the Army, Manipur Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), searched the Thanjing Ridge area and found a range of country-made weapons, including two eight-foot rockets, two seven-foot rockets, two large mortars (referred to locally as ‘pompi’), one medium-sized mortar and a supply of ammunition.
This cache also contained additional warlike stores.
The latest recovery comes days after Manipur Police arrested eight members of the banned outfit United Liberation Front of Manipur (Pambei) and seized arms and ammunition from their possession in Thoubal district.
The UNLF (P) members were arrested on Monday for threatening people and restraining the land demarcation process in the district, news agency PTI quoted Manipur Police officials as saying.
Three AK-47 rifles, two AK 56 rifles, one M-16 rifle, one 9mm pistol, 147 AK-47 live round ammunition, 20 M-16 live round ammunition, 25 of 9 mm live round ammunition, sixteen mobile handsets and one SUV were seized from their possession, a police statement said.
On October 31, security forces seized four rockets and a cache of explosives during a search operation in Churachandpur district. According to Manipur Police, two rockets were at least 8 feet long and the other two rockets were 7 feet long.
Two large country-made mortars, one medium-sized country-made mortar, three improvised mortar bombs, one radio set and two country-made grenades were also seized during the operation, they added.
The northeastern state has been rocked by the ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3 last year. The violence began after a tribal solidarity march was held in the hill districts of the state to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.