Most victims are reported to be from the mainly Christian Kuki, some of their villages destroyed by Meitei mobs and their residents killed or fled to the safety of army camps.
But the Meitei were also targeted by the Kukis, as a visit by AFP journalists to debris-strewn Khumujamba showed.
“I am not sure what I will do in the future,” traumatised Meitei carpenter Oinam Parshuram, 48, told AFP as he sat waiting to be evacuated in an army truck with his wife and daughter.
LOOTING
The violence was sparked by Kuki anger at the prospect of the Meitei being given guaranteed quotas of government jobs and other perks in a form of affirmative action.
This also stoked long-held fears among the Kuki that the Meitei might also be allowed to acquire land in areas currently reserved for them and other tribal groups.
On Tuesday (May 9), days after most Meitei fled Khumujamba, village men were still scavenging loot including taps, iron grills and firewood from different buildings.
The few structures left standing had “Eimi In” and “Haal Louh Ding” written on their external walls, messages in the local language exhorting rioters and looters not to touch them.
Even the main commercial road, now under curfew, had two types of shops: those spray-painted with the word “Tribal” and the ones that were ransacked by mobs.
One of the latter group belonged to Oinam Ravi, 28, who also had a home in the same district.
“Both of them are gone now,” he told AFP, one of a group of about 3,000 Meiteis being moved by the army, which has deployed thousands of troops and imposed curfews.