The incident occurred at around 1 am when a bomb was hurled by suspected militants at a house in Moirang Tronglaobi area, killing a 5-year-old boy and a six-month-old girl, a senior officer said.

Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh described the attack as a "barbaric act" and assured the people that those responsible for the crime would be identified and dealt with firmly under the law.

The two children and their mother were sleeping in their bedroom when the bomb exploded in the house, the police officer said.

Locals staged a protest this morning and torched two oil tankers and a truck near a petrol pump in the area. They burnt tyres in front of the Moirang Police Station and destroyed a makeshift police outpost.

Security forces have been deployed in the area to control the situation, the officer said.