GUWAHATI: Indian security forces stepped up operations to prevent further violence in Manipur state on Wednesday after a seven-year-old boy, his mother and a relative were burnt alive when a crowd set fire to an ambulance ferrying them to a hospital.

The boy was being rushed for medical treatment on Sunday night after he was shot amidst deadly ethnic clashes between tribal groups and the majority Meitei community in the north-eastern state.

The Indian Army on Wednesday said it had launched operations in hill and valley areas across Manipur “to dominate sensitive areas and recover snatched weapons”.

“Locals in possession of such weapons being urged to surrender them to the Security Forces for the sake of peace & harmony,” the army said on Twitter.

The ethnic violence in the state began in early May when tribal groups clashed with the Meitei community, worried that the economic quotas and benefits granted to them would also be extended to the Meiteis.

More than 60 people have been killed and around 35,000 displaced since the rioting began last month.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2023