India : Ethnic and sectarian violence that rocked India’s north-eastern Manipur state this week has taken the lives of at least 54 people.
The state is under a round-the-clock communication and security lockdown following widespread arson and attacks by Christian-majority Kukis and Hindu-majority Meitei, the two dominant ethnic groups in the remote hilly region.
Police stations were attacked and their armouries looted by mobs, and dozens of places of worship are reported to have been destroyed since the violence began in late April.
Authorities have sent thousands of soldiers and riot police to the state and empowered security forces to “shoot at sight” to quell the unrest, which has forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
23 people killed in the violence were kept at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal West district.
At least 16 bodies were kept in a mortuary at a government hospital in Churachandpur district and 15 at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.
