At least 15 people were injured when suspected Kuki militants armed with sophisticated weapons and bombs attacked two villages in Manipur’s Imphal West district, police said on Saturday.

Personnel of the state police and Manipur Rifles stationed at the two villages – Phayeng and Kangchup Chingkhong – retaliated leading to an exchange of fire that lasted for more than four hours on Friday night and later pushed back the militants to nearby hills, the police said.

The injured have been admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences and Raj Medicity in Imphal where the conditions of the two injured is stated to be critical, they said.

Reports of fresh attacks in the last twenty-four hours were also reported from Pombikhok in the Bishnupur district though no casualty or injury is reported.

A combined team of Manipur Police, Border Security Force and Assam Rifles recovered seven bodies from the Sugnu-Serou area in Kakching district.

The bodies have been deposited at the morgue of JNIMS, police said, adding that they were killed during the gunfight that broke out last week at Sugnu after armed Kuki militants attacked Sugnu.

On Friday, sources said that more than 140 weapons have been surrendered in different places in Manipur after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s appeal a day ago.

Shah, on the last day of his four-day visit to Manipur on Thursday, appealed to all concerned to surrender their weapons to the security forces and administration.

He had also warned that a search-and-combing operation would be carried out in the state soon and anyone found to possess any weapon would be prosecuted.

After the home minister’s appeal in Imphal, more than 140 weapons have been surrendered till Friday morning, sources said.

They said the situation in Manipur was by and large peaceful in most districts and sporadic incidents of firing at or torching of empty houses by miscreants were becoming rare now as coordinated effort was made by different security agencies.

The surrendered weapons included self-loading rifles, carbine, AK and INSAS rifles, light machine guns, pistols, M16 rifles, smoke gun/tear gas, stun gun and grenade launcher.