Violence erupted in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Tuesday when two children were killed in a bomb attack on their family home and two protesters died after a mob stormed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp, police said.
The blast happened around 1am in the village of Moirang Tronglaobi when suspected militants hurled an explosive device at a house, killing a five-year-old boy and his six-month-old sister as they slept. Their mother was seriously injured. The children’s father is a central armed police force member posted outside the state.
Angered by the attack, about 400 people later marched on a CRPF camp at Gelmol. They set vehicles alight and vandalised parts of the facility, prompting security personnel to open fire. Two people were killed and about 20 others wounded, a later Manipur Police update said.
An initial official account reported two deaths and five injuries.
Protesters accused security forces of failing to pursue those behind the bombing.
In separate demonstrations, crowds torched two oil tankers and a truck near a petrol station, burned tyres outside Moirang police station, destroyed a makeshift police outpost and blocked key roads in Imphal East and Imphal West districts by placing burning tyres across the carriageway.
Security forces have been deployed across the area to restore order. A large-scale combing operation involving police, Assam Rifles and CRPF units, supported by helicopters, is under way.
The chief minister condemned the bombing as a barbaric act and an assault on humanity that threatened the fragile peace in the state. He said the investigation had been transferred to the National Investigation Agency and that those responsible would be identified and prosecuted. He urged residents to stay calm, avoid emotional reactions and cooperate with security operations.
The chief minister chaired an all-party meeting at his secretariat to assess the situation. Parties expressed concern over the law-and-order breakdown and called for peace, unity and communal harmony.
Moirang Tronglaobi lies in a low-lying area near the hills of Churachandpur district and had experienced repeated gunfire during earlier phases of ethnic conflict.
An unexploded device was recovered in the vicinity on Tuesday.
The clashes come against a backdrop of persistent tension in Manipur that has lasted several years. At least 260 people have been killed and thousands left homeless since violence between the valley-based Meitei community and the hill-based Kuki-Zo groups first erupted in May 2023.
The state was placed under President’s Rule for nearly a year from February 2025 and only recently returned to elected government.
