GUWAHATI: At least five people, including a man from the Gorkha community, were killed and several houses were burnt in a series of attacks in Manipur since Friday night.
The deaths were reported in the Naga-majority districts of Kamjong, which shares a border with Myanmar, and Ukhrul.
Former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said seven people had lost their lives in a single day. “Particularly disturbing is the killing of Sandeep Rai, a member of the Nepali community, in an alleged KRA (Kuki Revolutionary Army) ambush at Yolen near TM Kasom Litan in Ukhrul district,” Singh posted on X.
In the first incident, a 42-year-old Kuki woman was shot dead in Chassad Kuki village in Kamjong on Friday night. The killing was followed by a gunfight between armed groups that continued until Saturday morning, during which a 22-year-old man was killed. Reports of two more deaths in the area could not be officially confirmed.
Later in the day, two Nagas were killed in a suspected militant attack in Ningchou village in the district. Rai, 40, was also killed in a suspected militant attack in Ukhrul district.
The Working Committee of the Tangkhul Naga Long (WC-TNL) alleged that a team of India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel on routine patrol came under fire from Kuki militants in Chassad Kuki village, triggering a gunfight in which the woman was killed after being caught in the crossfire.
The Naga organisation further alleged that Kuki militants later launched an armed offensive against Naga civilians and set fire to nine houses at Kamjong district headquarters. It added that two Naga civil defence volunteers, identified as BS Honreipam and Ringphami Jajo, sustained gunshot wounds during a subsequent encounter.
The WC-TNL alleged that this was followed by another coordinated attack by the Kuki National Army-Burma and village volunteers from the Eastern Zone in Ningchou village, in which two Naga civilians were killed. The organisation identified the deceased as Ngachanso Ningshen and Leishisan Leishadang.
“The external aggression against Naga villagers of Kamjong bordering Myanmar has become a routine affair since the outbreak of violent conflict in the hills of Manipur,” the WC-TNL said.
Meanwhile, the Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO), Kamjong district, condemned the actions of the IRB personnel.
“The IRB personnel attempted to forcibly disperse the Chassad Village Guards, who have been defending their ancestral village with their lives, from their legitimate posts… When the brave women of Chassad came forward to defend their Village Guards, the IRB personnel, in a most cowardly, inhumane and indiscriminate manner, opened fire on the unarmed womenfolk, resulting in the death of Domkhonei Touthang,” the student body said.
The organisation demanded the immediate registration of an FIR and the arrest of all IRB personnel involved in the killing, immediate ex-gratia compensation and justice for the deceased woman's family, and a high-level independent inquiry by the Central Government into the alleged infiltration of NSCN-IM cadres into the IRB. It also called for the withdrawal of what it described as “biased” state forces.
The incidents occurred on a day when Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The Prime Minister assured the Manipur government of all possible assistance in its efforts to restore peace and normalcy in the state, according to a statement issued by the state government.
