A woman was killed by suspected Meitei militants in Zairon Hmar village in Manipur’s Jiribam district on Thursday, an Assam Rifles official told Scroll.

The woman was killed allegedly by members of armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol, the official said.

The militants also attacked other residents and set fire to at least six houses in the village, PTI reported.

The woman, identified as Zosangkim, belonged to the Hmar community and worked as a teacher at a Christian missionary school in the village. She was allegedly burned by the militants during the attack, the official said.

The Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee, an organisation representing tribal communities in the Jiribam and Pherzawl districts, also said that Zosangkim was killed in the attack that took place around 9 pm on Thursday.

“The ITAC demands the competent authorities in the government and the security forces concerned to nab the culprits and punish as per law,” the organisation said in a statement.

In response to a complaint by the woman’s husband Ngurthansang, the police filed a case under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to murder by a group of five or more persons and rape, among other sections.

Jiribam Superintendent of Police Robinsun Singh, in a letter to the district magistrate, sought permission to carry out a post-mortem examination of Zosangkim at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam. The official said that although facilities to conduct autopsies were available at Imphal, it would be difficult to transport the body there on account of the ethnic crisis.

Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 2023. At least 237 persons have died and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the beginning of the clashes.