Imphal, Manipur, June 8 (HBTV): The situation in Manipur’s Jiribam district has become critical with fresh violence breaking out and resulting in the evacuation of more than 200 people. These people have been move to safer locations. Many of the villagers are living in Jiri Sports Complex.

Reports said the houses of the people who are staying in the relief camp at Jiri Sports Complex were burned. They were reportedly from the villages of Lamtai khunou, Dibong Khunou, Nunkhal, and Begra in Jiribam district. The houses were reportedly burned by suspected militants.

Most of the newly displaced people were staying in villages more than 30 km from Jiribam town, an official said. The official said "more security personnel have been rushed to the area."

The Manipur police have ordered state police commandoes based in Imphal valley to deploy to Jiribam on Saturday for duty with immediate effect.

Tensions erupted in ethnic strife-torn Manipur's Jiribam district on Thursday evening after a 59-year-old man belonging to one community was killed allegedly by militants from another community, police said. 

The man, identified as Soibam Saratkumar Singh, went missing after he had gone to his farm in the morning. Later, his body was found with wounds believed to have been inflicted by a sharp object, a police officer said. 

Following the incident, irate locals set fire to an abandoned structure in retaliation, updates said. Locals also protested in front of the Jiribam police station demanding that the licensed firearms taken from them in the wake of the elections be returned to them after the polls. 

Jiribam, which has a diverse ethnic composition comprising Meitei, Muslim, Naga, Kuki, and non-Manipuri, had so far remained unaffected by the ethnic strife, which has been raging in Manipur since the previous May.

The ethnic conflict between the valley-based Meitei and the hills-based Kuki-Zo people has killed more than 200 people and rendered thousands of people homeless.