Two members of the Kuki community were killed and several homes were burned down on Thursday when the Kultuh Kuki village in Manipur’s Kamjong district was attacked by militants, a senior police officer told Scroll.
The Eastern Kuki Chiefs’ Association identified the two persons as Letminlun Haokip, the head deacon of the Kultuh Church, and Lunminthang Haokip, the youth chairman of the church.
The attack came hours after arson was reported in Senapati district and other places.
The fresh violence came after the bodies of six men from the Naga community, who had been abducted by a Kuki armed group on May 13, were recovered on Wednesday. The police said that an investigation into the deaths was underway.
In the Liangmai Taphou village of Senapati district, the state headquarters of the Naga People’s Front was vandalised on Thursday, India Today NE reported. This came hours after unidentified miscreants ransacked the premises. The NPF is the ruling party in neighbouring Nagaland.
Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Thursday expressed his condolences for the death of the six Naga men.
The government “strongly condemns this heinous act” and is committed to ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to justice, he said, adding that the matter was being looked into by the National Investigation Agency.
Singh said that he also condemns the killing of a farmer from Lansan Kuki village in Tamenglong district on Tuesday. “Violence has no place in our society,” he said on social media.
The Eastern Kuki Chiefs’ Association called on the authorities and security agencies to “immediately investigate the incident, bring the perpetrators to justice, and take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of vulnerable villages in the region”.
On Wednesday, the United Naga Council announced a 24-hour shutdown in Naga areas of Manipur on Thursday and Friday, the Ukhrul Times reported. The protest was to demand justice for the six men, said the civil society organisation that represents the Naga community.
At least 25 persons from the two communities have been killed since tensions erupted between them in February.
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 police said that 28 of the persons who had been abducted were released.
On Tuesday, the United Naga Council said that 14 Kuki hostages had been released on “humanitarian grounds”.
On Wednesday, the bodies of the six Naga men were found near the Kharam Vaiphei village in Kangpokpi district, Ukhrul Times reported.
After the attack on May 13, Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kuki tribes, 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 came 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 263 persons dead and more than 59,000 persons displaced. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.
Inputs from Rokibuz Zaman. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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