Strife-ridden Manipur’s New Year started on Monday just as 2023 ended – with the ominous rat-a-tat of indiscriminate gunfire from assailants masquerading as cops, resulting in four civilian deaths and injuries to six others at a marketplace in Thoubal district.

A village defence volunteer wounded in a gunfight between two groups at Tabungkhok in Imphal East the previous day died in the hospital late in the night, making him the second village guard to be killed in the valley over the weekend.

The toll in the latest burst of violence to strike the North Eastern state now stands at six in three days.

The attack on traders at Lilong Chingjao was linked to an extortion attempt, police said. The administration declared a blanket curfew in the three valley districts of Thoubal, Imphal East, and Imphal West from 8.30 pm, revoking a previous order easing public restrictions from 5 am to 10 pm.

The assailants, dressed in khaki, arrived at the marketplace around 7.30 pm in four vehicles, two of which a mob torched in the aftermath of the firing. The killers managed to escape in the melee.

CM N Biren Singh appealed for peace in the state and asked people not to take the law into their hands. He assured them that the perpetrators of the attack would be caught and prosecuted.

The attack at Lilong Chingjao came hours after Biren Singh, in a New Year message, expressed concern over the recent spike in violence, including a militant attack on a police outpost at Moreh in Tengnoupal district early Sunday that left four commandos wounded.