Manipur: At least 29 houses set on fire in fresh violence along Myanmar border

At least 29 houses were set on fire in separate incidents in Kuki and Tangkhul Naga villages in Manipur near the India-Myanmar border on Wednesday, said an Assam Rifles official.

Officials said that unidentified persons set fire to all 15 houses in Phaimol, a Kuki village, in Kamjong district at around 12.30 pm, The Times of India reported. The village had already been evacuated because of security concerns and its residents are temporarily staying at Aishi village, where an Assam Rifles camp is located.

At about 1.45 pm, armed persons set fire to Shangkhalok, a Tangkhul Naga village, in Kamjong district, in what officials described as an apparent retaliatory attack, the newspaper reported. Around seven houses were partially burnt but saved.

In a third incident, around seven houses in Huimine Thana, a Tangkhul Naga village between Shangkhalok and Phaikoh, in Kamjong district were also set on fire, allegedly by Kuki militants, the newspaper reported.

No one was killed or injured in the incidents, the newspaper quoted the police as saying.

A fourth incident was reported on Thursday morning in the Kuki village of Liekot in Noney district, said the Kuki Inpi Manipur, an apex Kuki body.

The Kuki body claimed that alleged Naga militants attacked Leikot around 5 am using automatic weapons before setting the village on fire.

On Wednesday, the Kuki Inpi alleged that cadres of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN-IM, and the Myanmar-based Shanni Nationalities Army had carried out the attack on Phaimol.

It alleged that the attack was part of a “systemic campaign of violence and destruction targeting Kuki villages in the Tangkhul-dominated hill districts” of the state.

The Kuki CSO Working Committee in Kamjong also accused armed Naga groups of carrying out the attack on Phaimol.

The committee claimed that a similar attack had taken place in Kultuh village on June 11.

“These repeated acts of arson, intimidation and violence constitute a serious violation of human rights, threaten peace and public safety and undermine the rule of law,” the committee said on Wednesday. “Such actions have caused fear, displacement and suffering among innocent civilians.”

Meanwhile, Naga organisations rejected the allegations and accused Kuki armed groups of carrying out a “strategic” attack on a Kuki village.

The Eastern Command Naga Village Guard said Phaimol had been “advertently set on fire to establish a basis for preplanned attack on two Tanghkhul Naga settlements”.

It alleged that about 20 armed Kuki men crossed the Namya River from Phaikoh and set fire to houses in the two villages. It also claimed that 20 camps sheltering 365 Myanmar refugees at Kherongram were also destroyed.

The organisation claimed that the attacks took place in the presence of personnel from the Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Indian Reserve Battalion and Manipur Police stationed nearby.

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. At least 25 persons from the two communities have been killed since tensions erupted.

‘Result of Modi government’s divisive ideology’

On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the fresh tensions in Manipur were the result of the Narendra Modi government’s “divisive ideology, which divides people in the name of religion, caste, language, region, and identity”.

“Even with two governments and president's rule, the conflict is only deepening,” the MP said on social media. “Thousands have lost their lives, countless families have been shattered – the unbearable agony Manipur is enduring is hard even to imagine.”

He added: “Today, not just Manipur but the entire country has given up hope of even two words of empathy from the prime minister, let alone any action.”

Ethnic clashes had first broken out in Manipur in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities. At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since then in the conflict.

Biren Singh had stepped down as the chief minister in February 2025 amid allegations from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups that his response to the violence had been partisan and that he had stoked majoritarianism.

After he resigned, Manipur was under the President’s Rule for a year until Yumnam Khemchand Singh took oath as chief minister on February 4.

Written by Sara Varghese. Inputs from Rokibuz Zaman. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.