Eight people have been arrested in connection with attacks on a police station and residences of MLAs in conflict-torn Manipur, a police statement said on Saturday.

A person, identified as 20-year-old Chongtham Thoicha from Kiyam Mamang Leikai in Patsoi police station area in Imphal West district, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the arson attack on the properties of elected representatives on November 16, it said. Also on Thursday, seven people were arrested for attacking Kakching police station and its staff on November 27. “The attack was carried out to demand the release of four people arrested on November 16 for damaging the properties of an elected member,” it said.

The houses of several MLAs in Imphal Valley were vandalized by angry mobs after the bodies of six women and children belonging to the Meitei community were found in the rivers. The civilians were allegedly abducted by Kuki militants following a gunfight with security forces in the Jiribam area on 11 November. Ten Kuki rebels were also killed in the conflict.

More than 250 people have been killed and thousands left homeless in ethnic violence between the Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo groups in the neighboring hills since May last year.

Meanwhile, Korou Nganba Khuman, the superior of meitei radical outfit Arambai Tenggol, and Kuki militants are under the radar of the National Investigation Agency, which has been tasked with investigating four cases of attacks on security forces and an IED blast in conflict-torn Manipur.