Imphal, January 04: With the proscribed RPF claiming responsibility for the December 31 morning attack on the convoy of IGP Thangthuam which killed the senior police officer and his escort commander, at least the people now know who carried out the attack.

However, there is as yet no answer to the killing carried out the same day, albeit in the night, at North AOC, wherein two persons were killed in random firing while another was critically injured.

After a little nosing around matter has come to light that the shooting took place at about 10.45 pm, shortly after a scuffle broke out between some people at North AOC.

One of the people involved in the fracas spoke in a tribal language, it is learnt.

After the scuffle, those involved in the scuffle parted ways and it was only a little while later that four men came back to the place and opened the firing that killed a 63 old man on the spot while critically injuring two others.

One of the injured passed away at JN Hospital the next day while the other is still fighting for his life at Shija Hospitals and Research Institute, Langol.

Police recovered some projectiles of AK rifles from the spot and the key to the men behind the attack could lie with the spent cartridges, said a reliable source who The Sangai Express contacted today.

The involvement of militants is highly unlikely as it would have been practically impossible for them to penetrate into the heart of Imphal in the night with weapons like AK rifles.

Since the attack on the IG convoy took place in the morning at Oinam bazar, a large number of police personnel including, commandos from Imphal East and West were pressed into service at Bishnupur area for the follow up CI Ops.

On that particular night, a police team was stationed at Shamu Makhong, one team at Thangal bazar while another two teams were deployed at Paite Veng.

The spot where the attack took place is a highly fortified place.

On the eastern side is the police commandos barrack while on the southern side there is the 1st IRB post.

In the north there is the 2nd Manipur Rifles and Assam Rifles while in the West there are security personnel posted at the High Court complex.

The question that has to be addressed is how the armed men came to the highly sensitive place, opened fire and then made good their escape.

Another point is the manner in which they managed to come back so soon after the scuffle, with guns etc.

It is learnt that there was a complete black out at North AOC area on the night of the shooting.

Till date police investigations have revealed that the two deceased persons had a clean past and they had no antecedents of any sort.

The investigation into the case will cover all angles.

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