Five members of the Kuki community have been killed in separate incidents linked to renewed ethnic tensions in India’s northeastern state of Manipur.
In a statement last Saturday, state police said three Kuki men were killed in a gunfight involving unidentified armed attackers in Noney district.
In another statement, police said the bodies of two other members of the same community, who had gone missing earlier in the week, were recovered from Kangpokpi district on Sunday morning after a security search.
A leading Kuki tribal organization blamed Naga separatist groups for the killings and described them as unprovoked attacks on the community’s homeland. That attribution was not independently confirmed in the report.
The killings occurred as large demonstrations were being held in Imphal, the state capital, and other parts of Manipur. The protesters were demanding that the central government cancel its ceasefire agreement with Kuki armed groups.
Kuki and Naga communities have a long history of conflict in the northeastern state over claims to their respective homelands. In February this year, some Kuki men were accused of assaulting a Naga man. A new round of deadly violence followed.
Three Kuki priests were killed by Naga armed groups in May, after which retaliatory kidnappings and killings began between the two sides.
The recent Kuki-Naga clashes have sharply increased tension in Manipur, where the Kuki community has also been in a deadly conflict with the predominantly Hindu Meitei community since May 2023 over economic benefits and job quotas.
More than 300 people have been killed in the broader conflict, and more than 60,000 displaced people remain in temporary relief camps. Chief Minister Biren Singh resigned after failing to stop the bloodshed in the state bordering Myanmar.
With no chief minister, Manipur was under direct central rule for a year from February 2025. President’s rule was lifted at the start of this year, and Yumnam Khemchand Singh became the state’s new chief minister.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report