The Manipur Police on Friday said that 28 of about 38 persons from the Kuki and Naga communities who had been taken hostage by armed groups in the state’s Kangpokpi and Senapati districts have been released, reported PTI.
The abductions had taken place as fresh violence erupted in Manipur on Wednesday after three church leaders were killed and five others injured when the vehicles they were travelling in were ambushed while they were returning from a meeting in Churachandpur to Kangpokpi. Another civilian was also killed and his wife wounded in Noney district.
On Thursday, Manipur Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam said that the administration was “actively holding discussions with civil society groups and political leaders to secure the release” of the abducted persons.
An unidentified police officer told PTI on Friday that 12 Naga women from Konsakhul village had been released at Makhan on Thursday. Four men and ten women from the Kuki community held in Senapati were also handed over to security forces late on Thursday night, added the officer.
“Two Salesian brothers of Don Bosco [a religious order in the Catholic Church], including one from Nagaland, were also released by armed groups at separate locations,” the newspaper quoted the officer as saying.
Another police officer told The Indian Express that the total number of persons being held hostage was uncertain, which made the situation more difficult.
Groups on both sides had raised “ultimatums” on Thursday, threatening an escalation in the situation if the hostages were not released by the other side, the newspaper reported.
After the attack on Wednesday, the apex body of the Kuki tribes, Kuki Inpi Manipur, alleged that the armed Naga group Zeliangrong United Front-Kamson faction was behind the actions. However, the authorities said that the involvement of militant outfits was being investigated.
The developments come amid tensions between Kukis and Nagas in Ukhrul that had erupted on February 7 after an alleged assault involving members of the Tangkhul Naga and the Kuki-Zo communities escalated into clashes.
The fresh violence came against the backdrop of the ethnic clashes that broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in the state in May 2023, leaving at least 260 persons dead and more than 59,000 persons displaced. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.
Edited by Sneha.
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