Earlier, on September 27, a special CBI team headed by Sood landed in Manipur to speed up the investigation into the alleged murder of two students.

After Supreme Court direction, several dead bodies of victims of Manipur since May 3, lying in the morgues in Imphal valley region for past eight months have been shifted to respective hill district for a dignified burial.

The village, which comes under the territorial jurisdiction of Machi police station in Tengnoupal district, has nine houses and around 70 residents.

An eerie calm pervades the village atmosphere with ethnic tension still lurking, threatening to rupture any moment. Tell-tale signs of displacement and insecurity, a deep sense of fear and abandonment writ large among the locals. Way to the village one would encounter barricades manned by automatic rifles yielding security personnel all along.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) is deeply offended by the remarks made by Manipur CM Biren Singh in his recent interview, where he blatantly lied about the cause of the sectarian conflict in the state

According to police officials, armed militants began firing from two adjacent villages, Phaimol and Twichin, at around 3 a.m.

Manipur government, led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, has prohibited the circulation of videos or pictures depicting violence and damage to properties to restore normalcy in the state on Thursday.

The approval has been granted by the Appointments committee of the Cabinet, almost month after the proposal by the MHA.