Imphal, March 17: Seven bodies, with their hands tied behind their backs and bullet wounds on their heads, were found lying along the road near a paddy field at Heiyen Hangoon in Manipur’s Imphal West district this evening.

Written on the back of their shirts was a telling message: “Go back to your home states”.

Neither the victims nor the assailants have been identified. Police, who reached the spot at 7.30pm, an hour after the incident, said the victims could be labourers as they wore tattered clothes and sandals.

Some non-Manipuri labourers from the district came to the site around 8pm on getting information of the killings, but could not identify the bodies.

Residents told the police that unknown persons had brought the seven to the place, located about 7km south of Mayang Imphal police station and 14km from the state capital, in a van. The killings have baffled the police. They said major militant groups in the state normally do not target non-Manipuri labourers in this manner.

“We cannot say which group is responsible for the killings. We are looking into the matter,” an official at the local police station said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings yet. Though militants in the state have killed non-Manipuri traders on various charges, this is the first time that so many non-Manipuri labourers have been killed without any apparent reason.

The killings have fuelled speculation that this could be the beginning of an Assam-like situation where Ulfa militants gunned down Hindi-speaking labourers.

The killings have also triggered panic among non-Manipuri labourers in the state.

The labourers who came to inspect the bodies were terrified by the incident. “We do not know what to say. We could also be killed. What could be the reason?” one of them wondered.

A senior police official said security had been beefed up in the areas where non-Manipuri labourers were concentrated.