IMPHAL, May 14 -- Three senior leaders of the Thadou Baptist Association (TBA) were killed and four others injured on Wednesday when armed militants ambushed two vehicles on the road between Kangpokpi and Churachandpur in Manipur's Kangpokpi district, triggering shutdowns across key routes and deepening the crisis in the ethnic strife-torn state. The victims were returning to Kangpokpi from a TBA conference in Churachandpur when the attack occurred between Kotzim and Kotlen. Eight people were travelling in the two vehicles; one escaped unhurt. The dead were identified as V Sitlhou, a leader of the Thadou Baptist Association - the Thadou being a Kuki-Zo community - and former general secretary of the Manipur Baptist Convention, and two pastors - Kaigoulun Lhouvum and Paogoulen Sitlhou. Violence also claimed a life in Noney district on Wednesday, where one man was shot dead and two others injured after armed militants ambushed a vehicle at around 6:20 pm between Nungsai and Joujangtek areas under Khoupum Police Station limits. The victims were travelling in a Bolero when the attack occurred. The deceased, Wilson Thanga, 52, a resident of Dolang Chiru village, sustained two bullet injuries on the spot. His wife, Thoireithei Thanga, 48, and the driver, Oliv Jatung, 42, of Dolana Chiru village, were injured and taken to Khoupum health care centre. The victims belong to the Chiru community, a Naga tribe. Chief minister Yumnam Khemchand, who visited the injured at Shija Hospitals in Imphal West along with deputy chief minister Losii Dikho, home minister Govindas Konthoujam, MLAs and other officials, condemned the first attack as "an act of terror". The state government said it would bear all medical expenses for the injured. Khemchand urged an immediate end to communal violence. "I assure the people that we will use every state resource to bring the perpetrators and their handlers to justice," he said. Thadou bodies imposed an indefinite total shutdown on Imphal-Dimapur National Highway 2 with immediate effect....