A suspected rocket attack on a civilian home in Manipur’s Bishnupur district in the early hours of Tuesday, April 7, killed two young children and critically injured their mother, triggering violent protests across the Imphal Valley that left additional civilians dead and pushed authorities to impose an internet shutdown across five districts.
The attack struck at approximately 1:03 a.m. on Tuesday in Tronglaobi Awang Leikai village under the Moirang area, a village that sits at the hill-valley fringe, close to Churachandpur district. The projectile, described by police and official sources variously as a bomb, mortar, or rocket, hit the bedroom of a house belonging to Oinam Malemnganba, a Border Security Force jawan currently posted outside the state.
Inside the house at the time were his wife, 37-year-old Oinam Ongbi Binita, and their two children. A loud explosion tore through the structure, causing severe damage and leaving all three critically injured. The couple’s five-year-old son and five-month-old daughter were rushed to a hospital in Imphal, where both succumbed to their injuries. Binita remains under treatment for splinter injuries.
Villagers said the projectile was fired from elevated hill positions several kilometres away. The area has a history of such incidents. In September 2024, a rocket attack in the same village killed a 72-year-old man and injured five others. Security forces also recovered another rocket-propelled grenade near the site of Tuesday’s attack, raising fears of further strikes.
News of the children’s deaths spread rapidly through the valley and triggered widespread anger. A large mob gathered near a CRPF camp approximately 200 metres from the attack site in the Gelmon and Tronglaobi Maning area. Protesters accused security forces of failing to prevent the attack, stormed the camp, vandalised property, and set vehicles and oil tankers on fire. Security personnel opened fire to disperse the crowd, killing at least two civilians, with some reports putting the figure at three, and injuring several others. A group of protesters also stormed the Moirang Police Station, set a sentry post ablaze, and announced an indefinite bandh in the Nambol area of Bishnupur along Tiddim Road. Road blockades were also reported in other parts of the valley. Several schools in valley districts remained closed on Tuesday as a precaution.
Chief Minister Y. Khemchand Singh condemned the attack as a “barbaric act” and “an assault on humanity.” He visited Binita at the hospital, accompanied by local MLA T. Robindro, and chaired a high-level security meeting at the state secretariat. “The government is committed to restoring peace and normalcy at the earliest. Those responsible will be identified, hunted down, and dealt with firmly under the law. Such acts of terror will not be tolerated,” he said, appealing for calm. Home Minister K. Govindas also described the strike as a “barbaric early morning act” and assured that steps were being taken to bring those responsible to justice.
To prevent further escalation and stop rumours from spreading, the Manipur Home Department on Tuesday suspended mobile internet, broadband, VSAT, and VPN services for three days across five valley districts, namely Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Kakching, and Bishnupur, with the shutdown taking effect from around 2:00 p.m. Additional security forces were deployed across the region and search operations were launched in adjoining hill areas.
Several media reports attributed the attack to suspected Kuki militants, a claim that the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of recognised tribes based in Churachandpur, rejected in a press release issued on the same day. “These claims are baseless and unsupported by any credible evidence,” the statement read. The ITLF pointed out that buffer zones between Kuki-Zo and Meitei areas are heavily guarded by security forces, and that the nearest Kuki village to Tronglaobi, Gelmol, is abandoned and presently occupied by CRPF personnel. The forum called on “authorities and the public to rely on verified facts and avoid blaming the Kuki-Zo community for every incident involving the Meiteis.”
The situation across Bishnupur and surrounding valley districts remains tense. Investigations are ongoing, authorities have urged residents not to spread unverified information, and the internet shutdown across the five districts remains in effect.
