Villagers returning to ambush hit Manipur villages

IMPHAL: People who had fled from the villages located close to the site of June 4 ambush on Armymen in Manipur's Chandel district have started to return home.

Chandel Deputy Commissioner Robert Khetrimayum said many of the villagers have returned to their homes in Paraolon, Moltuh, Kottal Khuntak and Challong.

Militant outfit NSCN(K) had ambushed an Army patrol near Paraolon killing 18 soldiers on June 4.

The scared villagers had fled the hamlets and went to their relatives' places mainly in Pallel, a big village having a police station and housing an Assam Rifles brigade headquarters, the DC said.

Besides Pallel, which is about 85 km from the ambush site, some of the villagers had also gone to Chandel town, the district headquarter.

The district administration had arranged for transport facilities from Pallel besides providing the villagers with some relief materials, said Khetrimayum, who had visited Paraolon a couple of days ago.

A section of the villagers have also put up in their second home in other places, mainly in and around Pallel, district officials said.

The villagers were also worried about their domestic animals -- dogs, cats, pigs, cows, etc -- whom they had left behind while fleeing.

Members of an NGO working for animal rights had gone to the villages and took care of some of the animals, the officials said.