Five dead in poll violence in India’s Manipur state

A torn poster depicting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and General-Secretary of the rebel National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Thuingaleng Muivah. - AP Photo.

GUWAHATI: Five people were killed in election related violence in India’s isolated, northeastern state of Manipur, police said on Saturday.
Among those who died were a woman, a security guard and three election duty staff, when suspected tribal rebels attacked a polling booth in the state’s Chandel district.
“The militants are suspected to be from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland faction,” a police officer said.
No group, however, has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Strife-ridden Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is the first of five Indian states to go to polls in early 2012 to elect a state legislature.
The Congress party, which leads the federal coalition government, is expected to retain office.
CorCom, an alliance of seven separatist Manipuri groups who view India as a colonial power, blamed the Congress government for “degeneration of the Manipuri society … to the present state of social, moral, economic and political bankruptcy.”
“We are fighting against the Indian occupation of Manipur.
So as a part of fighting Indian occupation we ban the Congress and their agents in Manipur,” the alliance said in an e-mail received by Reuters late on Friday.
The group claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on a Congress candidate’s home last week.