Vigilant Jiri volunteers shoot drone down

Our Correspondent
JIRIBAM, Oct 10: A drone suspected to have been deployed by Kuki militants was shot down at Champanagar Kha Leikai in Jiribam district today.
The drone was noticed hovering over Champanagar Kha Leikai at around 7 am by village volunteers.
The volunteers reacted by firing a barrage of bullets and hit the drone, which "exploded with a loud bang" mid air and fell down on the ground.
Locals reported the incident to the police, who later recovered the drone.
Shortly after the drone was neutralised, another drone was seen flying in the area causing panic among the locals.
The locals have appealed to the police and authorities concerned to look into the incident and curb drone activities in the area.
Notably, this is the first time a drone has been shot down in Manipur, which has seen heightened drone activities amid the conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis.
While drones were reportedly used for survei- llance earlier in the conflict, advanced weaponised drones were reportedly used by the Kuki militants to target and bomb civilian areas in early September.
On September 1, Kuki militants dropped bombs from drones in Koutruk injuring several people including security personnel.
The aerial and ground attack on the day at Koutruk killed a woman and injured her minor daughter. Both were hit by bullets fired by Kuki militants.
While there was widespread fear about the use of advanced drones to drop bombs, Kuki militants some days later fired long range rockets in the heart of Moirang in Bishnupur district.
The rocket travelled some 6-7 kilometres hitting a densely populated residential area killing an elderly man.
Notably, the use of advanced drones in the conflict has prompted the Government to procure anti-drone guns.
While these anti-drone guns have been reportedly put to service, where they have been deployed is not known.
The conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis, since May 3, 2023, has killed over 220 people, burnt hundreds of houses and displaced more than 60,000 people.