The Manipur Police on Wednesday said that the bodies of the six Naga men who had been abducted on May 13, allegedly by armed Kuki groups, have been recovered.
This came a day after the United Naga Council confirmed that 14 Kuki hostages, who were abducted on the same day, were released.
The mortal remains of the six Naga men were recovered on Wednesday afternoon after “nearly 24 hours of sustained search operations involving around 450 personnel of the Manipur Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Assam Rifles, assisted by sniffer dogs and forensic expert teams”, stated the police.
They added that an investigation into the deaths was underway.
On May 13, at least 48 civilians from the Kuki and Naga communities were taken hostage by armed groups in the state’s Kangpokpi and Senapati districts.
The abductions had taken place 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 May 15, the Manipur Police said that 28 of the persons who had been abducted were released.
Fourteen Kuki hostages were released by the United Naga Council and Naga civil society organisations on Tuesday on “humanitarian grounds”.
Ng Lohro, the president of the United Naga Council, had said that he hoped the six Naga men would also be released soon.
On Wednesday, the bodies of the six men were found near the Kharam Vaiphei village in Kangpokpi district, Ukhrul Times reported.
A post-mortem examination will be conducted at Imphal’s Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, the newspaper reported.
After the attack on May 13, the apex body of the Kuki tribes, Kuki Inpi Manipur, had alleged that the armed Naga group Zeliangrong United Front-Kamson faction was behind the action. 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.
Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Sneha.
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