NEW DELHI: Around 40 suspected militants and two police have died in fresh violence in Manipur in northeast India, an official said on Sunday, confirming comments from the state’s chief minister to local media.
Manipur has been on edge after an explosion of inter-ethnic violence this month killed at least 70 people and left tens of thousands displaced.
The state government official, who did not wish to be named, said that Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh told reporters earlier on Sunday that security forces killed around 40 “militants” over the last two days.

“The terrorists have been using M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles and sniper guns against civilians. They came to many villages to burn down homes,” local media quoted Singh as saying.
“We have started taking very strong action against them with the help of the army and other security forces. We have got reports some 40 terrorists have been shot dead,” Singh was quoted as saying. A military source confirmed an uptick of unrest, and said four people had been killed in the past 24 hours.
“At least three armed miscreants, who were trying to set fire to empty houses, and fired at the security forces when they tried to stop them, died in retaliatory firing,” the source said, declining to be named.
“One more armed miscreant was killed in Moreh and three others, including two security personnel, were injured,” the source said.
The far-flung states of northeast India — sandwiched between Bangladesh, China and Myanmar — have long been a tinderbox of tensions between different ethnic groups.
The violence in Manipur earlier in May was between the majority Meitei, who are mostly Hindus and live in around state capital Imphal, and the mainly Christian Kuki tribe in the surrounding hills.
The spark was Kuki anger at the prospect of the Meitei being given guaranteed quotas of government jobs and other perks in a form of affirmative action.
This also stoked long-held fears among the Kuki that the Meitei might also be allowed to acquire land in areas currently reserved for them and other tribal groups.
Thousands of troops were deployed to restore order, while around 30,000 people fled their homes for the safety of ad-hoc army-run camps for the displaced. Mobile internet has been cut for weeks.
On Wednesday, an indefinite curfew was re-imposed in the flashpoint Bishnupur district after suspected militants fired at a group of people, fatally wounding one person.
“Two persons, who had been living in a relief camp, were injured during the firing by the militants and one of them later died in a hospital,” a local police officer, who did not want to be identified, said.
Before the shooting, suspected militants torched some abandoned houses close to a relief camp set up for those displaced during the violence, the officer said.
The house of local minister Govindas Konthoujam was also attacked and ransacked when the family was away.

President Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in Turkiye’s presidential election on Sunday, a win that would steer his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade.
Addressing supporters, Erdogan said voters had given him the responsibility to rule for the next five years.
“The only winner is Turkiye,” he said, addressing cheering supporters from atop a bus in Istanbul.
Final official results have yet to be released.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Erdogan ahead of the final official results, saying that he was “one of few world leaders whose politics has been anchored in public service.
“He has been a pillar of strength for the oppressed Muslims and a fervent voice for their inalienable rights. His presidential victory and that of AKP in parliamentary elections is significant in so many ways, reflecting the trust and confidence of the Turkish people in his dynamic leadership.
“The bilateral relations between Pakistan and Turkiye will continue to stay on an upward trajectory. I keenly look forward to working with him to further deepen our strategic partnership in line with the excellent brotherhood between our two peoples,” Shehbaz tweeted.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the “historic victory reflects the trust of the Turkish nation in his visionary leadership. Wishing Türkiye eternal peace and prosperity as we continue our unique journey of brotherhood.”
There was no immediate response to Erdogan’s victory speech from his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The election had been seen as one of the most consequential yet for Turkiye, with the opposition believing it had a strong chance of unseating Erdogan after his popularity was hit by a cost-of-living crisis.
Instead, victory will reinforce his image of invincibility, after having already redrawn domestic, economic, security and foreign policy in the Nato member country of 85 million people and positioned Turkiye as a regional power.
Supporters gathered at his Istanbul residence in anticipation of victory as data reported by both state-run Anadolu agency and the opposition ANKA news agency gave him the edge with nearly 99 per cent of ballot boxes counted.
The head of the High Election Board earlier told a news conference that Erdogan was leading Kilicdaroglu with 54.47pc support, with 54.6pc of ballot boxes logged.
Erdogan, head of the Islamist-rooted AK Party, appealed to voters with nationalist and conservative rhetoric during a divisive campaign that deflected attention from deep economic troubles.
The defeat of Kilicdaroglu, who promised to set the country on a more democratic and collaborative path, would likely be cheered in Moscow but mourned in Western capitals and much of the Middle East after Turkiye took a more confrontational and independent stance in foreign affairs.
Erdogan supporters who were gathered outside his Istanbul residence chanted Allahu Akbar, or God is Greatest.
“I expect everything to become better,” said Nisa, 28, a headscarved woman wearing a headband with Erdogan’s name.
Another Erdogan supporter said Turkiye would get stronger with him in office for five more years.
“There are issues, problems in every country around the world, in European countries as well … With strong leadership we will overcome Turkiye’s problems as well,” said Mert, 39, who had come to celebrate with his son.
Bugra Oztug, 24, who voted for Kilicdaroglu, said she was not surprised at the result, blaming the opposition for failing to change.
“I feel sad and disappointed but I am not hopeless. I still think there are people who can see the realities and truth,” Oztug said.
Erdogan’s performance has wrong-footed opponents who also thought voters would punish him over the state’s initially slow response to devastating earthquakes in February, in which more than 50,000 people died.
But in the first round of voting on May 14, which included parliamentary elections, his AK Party emerged top in 10 of the 11 provinces hit by the earthquakes, helping it secure a parliamentary majority along with its allies.

Skeletal winged bodies of fairies, werewolves and aliens were said to have been found in the basement of an old house in London.
The macabre collection features what appears to be a range of mythical beasts, in cases and jars in gruesome poses.
Fairies seen with their flesh rotted away and their wings nailed to display boards are joined by sinister-looking contorted alien bodies and hairy humanoid remains.
The hoard also featured sketches of Jack the Ripper victims Catherine Eddowes and Elizabeth Stride along with alleged human hearts and other organs preserved in jars.
Bodies of strange creatures were allegedly found in a basement.
The gruesome exhibits were said to have been the collection of Thomas Theodore Merrylin, who was described as “a rich aristocrat and biologist in the 1800s”.
A blog post about the supposed finds claimed: “In 1960 in London at the time of clearing the site for construction of a new residential neighborhood, the old long-abandoned mansion belonged to Thomas Theodore Merrylin was set for demolition.
“In the basement of the home, builders have discovered several thousand small wooden boxes tightly sealed.
“Imagine their surprise when they began to find inside the bodies of strange mythical creatures, which seemed to have been living only in fairy tales.”
The items were said to have belonged to a rich 19th century collector
Many of the artifacts are skeletal in appearance
The shocking artifacts were revealed by artist Alex CF, who claimed Merrylin’s diaries refer to “all sorts of advanced ideas that didn’t exist at the time, such as quantum physics and the multiverse theory.”
His diaries also allegedly contain scientific explanations for many of the mythical-looking specimens in his collection.
Alex CF claims to be the curator of the collection, which can be viewed online .
But the story is actually well-crafted narrative pieced together by the artist.
Sceptics have claimed the alleged bodies are part of a clever art project
Commenting on the pieces, one online commenter, called James Campbell, wrote: “Did this guy raid the props department of Hammer films I mean come on people.

WASHINGTON: The United States wants the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh to meaningfully participate in electing their governments, says the US State Department.

In the US Congress, the chairperson of the Pakistan caucus, too, joined a growing number of lawmakers who are expressing concern at reported human rights abuses in Pakistan.

“We value our longstanding bilateral relationships with both Pakistan and Bangladesh,” a State Department spokesperson told journalists in Washington.

“We are committed to supporting a future in which all Pakistanis and Bangladeshis can meaningfully participate in their governments and determine the outcomes of their elections pursuant to their constitution and laws,” the US official added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week announced a new visa policy to support free, fair, and peaceful national elections in Bangladesh.
Under this policy, the US will restrict the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the country’s democratic election process.
Later, Bangladesh announced that it was taking steps to tackle unlawful interference in its elections. In Washington, Bangladesh’s three-term Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s style of functioning is seen as increasingly authoritarian. There are indications that the US could be more open to a political change in Dhaka.
However, the US administration has been refusing to take sides in Pakistan’s current political turmoil. Every time the issue was raised at an official briefing in Washington, US officials made it clear that Washington would not support any particular candidate or party in Pakistan.
When pressed for a Pakistan-specific comment, the officials would say: “The United States is committed to the promotion of democracy and free and fair elections all over the world.”
The situation, however, is different on Capitol Hill where former prime minister Imran Khan’s supporters have won over a large number of sympathizers in both the House and the Senate.
Recently, 69 congresspersons sent a letter to Secretary Blinken, asking him to use “all tools” at his disposal to protect democracy in Pakistan. They are now trying to generate a similar move in the Senate.

On Friday, PTI’s US chapter also won over the founding, and current, chairperson of the Pakistan Caucus in the House, Sheila Jackson Lee.
“As the founder and chair of the … Congressional Pakistan caucus, I am extremely concerned about the reports that are coming out of Pakistan of human rights abuses and the lack of protection for those who express peaceful opposition to the government,” she wrote in a series of tweets posted on her site.
Ms Jackson Lee said she was particularly concerned that the former prime minister was “arrested multiple times” and there “appears to be no provision for a just response to this apparent unfairness.”

She also demanded that people in Pakistan should have the right to “a free, safe and unfettered protest.” She said she would be writing to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken and ask them to insist on the ending of these human rights violations against the opposition and others.

“And additionally, to ensure that we continue to promote the US and Pakistani relationship and a democratic Pakistan,” she wrote.

PARIS: Lobbyists Greenpeace unveil­ed an artwork in Paris on Saturday in the shape of a machine churning out bottles in front of an oil derrick to coincide with talks on eliminating plastic waste.
Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong said his 5-metre-high work by the River Seine showed the link between fossil fuels and plastic pollution, which could triple in the next four decades.
With only about 9 per cent of waste recycled from 460 million tonnes of plastic produced each year, the UN-organised Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) aims for a legally-binding pact to eliminate more.
“If we do not act, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna tweeted on Saturday, quoting the United Nations.
France hosted a launching ceremony for the talks on Saturday. Technical discussions will run from Monday to Friday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said last year that global plastic waste could triple by 2060. But the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said this month that countries could reduce it 80pc by 2040 using existing technologies and making major policy changes.
“We hope this machine will serve as an unflinching visual reminder of the urgency of this issue,” artist Von Wong said, according to Greenpeace’s website.
Paris also saw protests on Friday by climate campaigners at the annual general meeting of TotalEnergies.

SAQQARA: Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed two human and animal embalming workshops, as well as two tombs, discovered in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, the government said on Saturday.

The vast burial site, at the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, is a Unesco World Heritage site and home to more than a dozen pyramids, animal graves and old Coptic Christian monasteries.

Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters the embalming workshops, where humans and animals were mummified, “date back to the 30th dynasty” which reigned around 2,400 years ago.
Researchers “found several rooms equipped with stony beds where the deceased lay down for mummification”, Egypt’s tourism and antiquities ministry said.
Each bed ended in gutters to facilitate the mummification process, with a collection of clay pots nearby to hold entrails and organs, as well as a collection of instruments and ritual vessels.
Early studies of the other workshop suggest it was used for the “mummification of sacred animals”. The discovery also includes the tombs of two priests dating back to the 24th and 14th centuries BC, respectively.
The first belonged to Ne Hesut Ba, who served the fifth dynasty as the head of scribes and priest of the gods Horus and Maat.
The tomb walls are decorated with depictions of “daily life, agriculture and hunting scenes”, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara archaeological site.
The second tomb, that of a priest named Men Kheber, was carved in rock and features depictions of the deceased himself on the tomb walls, as well as in a one-metre-long (three foot) alabaster statue, Youssef told reporters.
Egypt has unveiled a string of major archaeological discoveries in recent years.
Critics say the flurry of excavations has prioritised finds shown to grab media attention over hard academic research.
The discoveries have been a key component of Egypt’s attempts to revive its vital tourism industry amid a severe economic crisis.
The government recently launched a strategy “aiming for a rapid increase in inbound tourism” at a rate of 25-30 per cent a year, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa said at the site on Saturday.
Egypt aims to draw in 30 million tourists a year by 2028, up from 13 million before the Covid pandemic.
The crowning jewel of the government’s strategy is the long-delayed inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids in Giza.