At least 10 abandoned houses and one school were burnt by armed miscreants at Torbung Bazaar area in Churachandpur district bordering Bishnupur district, police said on Monday.

The mob, led by hundreds of women who purportedly acted as human shields, fired several rounds and locally made bombs during the attack on Saturday evening, police said.?The institute is Children Treasure High School located at Torbung Bazaar.

"We hesitated to return fire when we saw the attackers approaching as the mob was led by hundreds of women. However, after we saw them trying to snatch a vehicle of the BSF and start burning our houses, we realised the need for retaliation," a local, who did not want to be named, told PTI.

The mob later also tried to take away a Casper vehicle of the BSF but the attempt was foiled by retaliatory fire from the force and the local volunteers deployed at the area.