A Manipur Police commando was killed today in an attack by miscreants in the border town Moreh, 110 km from the state capital Imphal. Firing has been going on since morning between security forces and miscreants, government sources said.

According to reports, the miscreants today threw bombs and fired at a security post near Moreh. Moreh is a key trading town on the India-Myanmar border.

Police said the miscreants also fired RPG shells at the temporary commando post damaging several vehicles parked in the vicinity.

The commando who died was identified as Wangkhem Somorjit an IRB personnel attached to state police commando in Moreh. Somorjit hails from Malom in Imphal West district.

The fresh violence comes amid massive protests by Kuki groups after police arresed two tribals for involvement in the killing of a police officer.

A video of the clash shows armed miscreants pushing back a security truck as it tries to enter Moreh.

The Kuki tribes have asked the Centre to remove the state police from Moreh and keep only central forces. They have alleged the police of attacking Kuki civilians. The Manipur Police have refuted the allegations and said those attacking the state police commandos were hill-based insurgents.

Over 180 have died and thousands have been internally displaced in the Manipur violence that began on May 3, 2023.

It was business as usual for the SpiceJet crew onboard a Mumbai-Bengaluru flight yesterday till they realised that a passenger was trapped inside the toilet. The crew found that the door lock had malfunctioned, and their repeated attempts to rescue the passenger came to nothing.

The trapped passenger, meanwhile, was in a state due to this shock confinement. To calm the passenger down, the crew wrote a note on a piece of paper and slipped it under the toilet door.

“Sir, we tried our best to open the door. However, we could not open. Do not panic, we are landing in a few minutes. So please close the commode lid and sit on it and secure yourself. As soon as the main door is open, engineer will come. Do not panic,” said the note, which has now gone viral on social media.

The passenger was eventually rescued after the plane landed in Bengaluru and an engineer managed to unlock the door. By then, he had been confined for more than an hour. The flier, SpiceJet said in a statement, was provided medical attention soon after rescue.

“On 16 January, a passenger unfortunately got stuck inside the lavatory for about an hour on SpiceJet flight operating from Mumbai to Bengaluru, while the aircraft was airborne due to a malfunction in the door lock,” a statement from the airlines said.

“Throughout the journey, our crew provided assistance and guidance to the passenger. Upon arrival, an engineer opened the lavatory door, and the passenger received immediate medical support,” it added.

SpiceJet has expressed regret and apologised for the inconvenience to the passenger and said it will refund the full airfare.