Rebel leader, baby killed

Imphal, July 15 : A Kuki militant leader and his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter were killed when suspected rival Kuki rebels ambushed the vehicle in which he was travelling with his family yesterday.

Police said Marvin Kuki, self-styled home secretary of the Kuki Liberation Army, was travelling in a car with his family when members of a rival group ambushed the vehicle at Pukhao Ahallup in Imphal East yesterday afternoon.

While Marvin died on the spot, his daughter Zoukim, a five-year-old boy, Haominglun, who is a relative of the family, and his driver Thangminlen Khongsai, 24, were wounded. His wife Mansonel, 27, who was also in the car, was not injured in the attack.

Zoukim died in a hospital here early this morning.

Sources said Marvin was returning to his home at Saikul in Senapati district, about 40km from this town, after a visit to Churachandpur district and was travelling along the foothill road at Pukhao when his car was ambushed.

No outfit, however, has claimed responsibility for the attack and though central forces and the police had launched a search operation around the ambush spot yesterday, no arrests have been made yet.

The police said a rival Kuki militant group could be behind the attack and the motive could be inter-group rivalry. “We strongly believe that one of the Kuki militant groups could be behind the attack. We will discuss the matter very seriously in the next meeting of the joint monitoring group,” an official source said.

More than 20 Kuki militant groups have signed suspension of operation agreements with the Centre and the state government under two umbrella bodies — Kuki National Organisation and United Peoples Front. Kuki Liberation Army is one of signatories.

Though the cadres of these outfits stay in designated camps, the leaders are allowed to visit their homes and even stay there, official sources said.

Some of the surrendered cadres of the Kuki Liberation Army are also undergoing training by the Haflong-based 22 Sector Assam Rifles in electrical work, welding, auto repairs and computer basics.