GUWAHATI: Three Meitei villagers were fatally shot and as many wounded in an ambush by suspected militants inside a forest on the Imphal East-Kangpokpi border Monday morning, reviving ethnic tensions in Manipur's valley districts over what was an alleged breach of the tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement by an armed Kuki outfit.Protesters carried the bodies of two of the victims to a sit-in outside chief minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh's official residence in Imphal and didn't budge until security personnel fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Police moved the bodies to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences while the chief minister convened an evening meeting to review security and directed the administration to strengthen deployment in areas identified as "vulnerable".The killings are the first involving the state's majority community since Jan 21, when suspected Kuki assailants gunned down a Meitei man identified as Mayanglambam Rishikanta Singh in Churachandpur.50-odd people have died since attacks started 8 months agoArubam Ronil (35), Lairenlakpam Inaobi (51) and Kshetrimayum Sushil (32) were part of a group of 14 that had entered a forest near Nongshum and Khongbal Tangkhul villages around 9.40am to collect firewood when the firing started.

All three were natives of Nongshum.Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) demanded that the state and Union govts revoke the SoO with Kuki-Zo militant groups, whose friction with NSCN-IM and other Naga outfits in the hill districts has sparked a wave of tit-for-tat attacks in which 50-odd lives have been lost on either side over the past eight months.Late Sunday, another Meitei resident – Laishram Rakesh (26) – died when a stray bullet struck him during a clash at a music event at CYSA playground in Thoubal district’s Khangabok. Several others were injured. Three CRPF personnel were wounded in an IED explosion at Kakwa Lamdaibung Lampak, near Singjamei police station in Imphal.