At least 1,500 Bru or Reang tribals fled to Tripura after agitated Mizo tribals set fire to their houses in Mamit district in Mizoram on Sunday following the killing of a villager.

Official in Aizawl said trouble broke out after miscreants, suspected to be members of a Bru militant group, shot Zarzokima, a 17-year old youth from Bungthuam village, when he had gone to a nearby forest to collect firewood on Friday. “A note left behind by the miscreants near the body mentioned they belonged to Bru Revolutionary Union (BRU). The note said BRU would not rest till their demands were met,” Mizoram DGP Lalrokhuma Pachuau told The Indian Express.

After the bullet-ridden body of the youth was found, villagers retaliated by attacking houses of Bru tribals in nearby areas.

“At least 350 houses have been burnt down in 10 villages since Saturday,” the DGP said.

Unofficial sources in Tripura claimed over 4,000 Bru or Reangs have fled from Mizoram and taken shelter in the Jampui Hills in the past two days.

The DGP, however, disagreed with these estimates. “The number will not be more than 1,500,” Pachuau said.

Over 30,000 Reang refugees have already fled to Tripura since trouble first broke out in Mizoram in 1997.