New Delhi: Intense gunfights are being witnessed on the Myanmar-Manipur border, near the Myothit township of Myanmar, media reports have said.It is suspected that cadres of the banned insurgent group from Manipur, the People’s Liberation Amy (PLA), and Myanmar’s ethnic armed group, the K-Chin National Front (B), and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), an armed group of volunteers that supports the National Unity Government (NUG) in exile are involved in the gun fight.According to a news report in the Manipur-based Ukhrul Times, the gunfight has been on since May 7 along Manipur’s Kamjong district.“Locals of Kamjong town said gunshots were heard initially when the clash erupted somewhere on May 7 and 8, and still continuing,” said the news report, adding that the clash has reportedly resulted in casualties on both sides. “Ukhrul Times has not been able to verify the exact insurgent groups involved from the Indian side, however, all sources indicate that it is the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a a Meitei insurgent group active in the region,” it added. According to the Imphal Free Press, the “intense gun battle at the Indo-Myanmar border” was noted “near Kamjong district and Myanmar Border Pillar No. 90 and 91 around 12.40 am on Saturday (May 11).”Stating that “central forces that came for reinforcement in the area (on the Manipur side) were halted at Yairipok Bazaar and Napet Palli by the locals”, the report said “KNF (B) has now taken over the camp (of the north-eastern insurgent groups near Myothit in the Sagain region).” The Imphal-based daily did not name the banned Meitei insurgent group PLA but said, “more than 400 cadres of different insurgent groups including the NSCN got scattered.”“There are no reports of insurgents being captured by the Indian Army while fleeing across the border so far,” it added. Last week, Kamjong was in the news after Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh stated on social media that his government has detected 5,457 “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar there. He had said that their biometric data was being collected and their deportation process was underway, leading the Geneva-based International Committee for Jurists ( ICJ) to ask India to “immediately halt” their “forced return” and “respect the non-refoulement principle”. Biren Singh’s use of the term “illegal immigrant” for refugees fleeing the ongoing conflict between Myanmar’s military and rebel forces finds resonance among a large swathe of his community, the Meiteis. The state’s majority community has been accusing the Kukis of Manipur of harbouring “illegal immigrants from Myanmar” and thereby jeopardising their rights. The accusation is at the core of the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis in which several lives have been lost and thousands are displaced.