Union Home Ministry on Monday rushed 5,000 paramilitary troops to Manipur to assist the State Government in handling the current volatile situation. While 35 units will be drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the rest will be from the Border Security Force (BSF). Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the prevailing security situation and deployment of troops for the second consecutive day and directed top officials to focus on restoring peace and order there as early as possible.

A total of 218 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies are now present in the State, which has been reeling from ethnic strife since May last year. The Home Minister took stock of the deployment of central forces there and directed the officials to restore peace and order there as early as possible, said officials. The situation in the Northeastern state, which has been reeling from ethnic strife since May last year, has been volatile following protests and violence after the recovery of bodies of women and children.

Meanwhile, in Imphal, defying curfew orders, a group of people led by members of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) on Monday locked the front doors of several government offices in Imphal West district to protest the recent killing of three women and three children in Jiribam, officials said. The COCOMI is an influential organisation of the Meitei community, the majority ethnic group in the Imphal Valley region that comprises five districts including Imphal West.

The Manipur Government, on Monday, also extended the suspension of internet services by two more days till Wednesday in seven districts of the northeastern state. Raising slogans demanding justice for the victims and their families killed by suspected tribal militants in Jiribam district, the protesters stormed into the office complex of the Chief Electoral Officer at Lamphelpat and locked its main entrance door with chains and locks, officials said.

The main office doors of the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) at Takyel, and the Directorate of Economics and Statistics located a few hundred metres from the CEO's office were also locked by the protesters. Meanwhile, the indefinite sit-in staged by COCOMI at Khwairamband market in Imphal demanding a military crackdown against "Kuki Zo Hmar" militants in the state entered its third day.

Manipur has seen a fresh wave of protests after six people went missing from a camp for displaced persons in Jiribam on November 11, following a gunfight between armed men and security forces that resulted in the deaths of 10 Kuki youths. On Sunday, the bodies of two persons, believed to be among the six missing people from Jiribam, were found floating in the Barak river in neighbouring Cachar district of Assam.

More than 200 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kukis in Manipur since May last year.