In brief
Police confirmed the deaths of five Kuki men in separate incidents across Manipur. The killings came amid protests against a ceasefire and a longstanding history of territorial disputes between the Kuki and Naga tribes. Over 60,000 people displaced and more than 300 lives lost in the region’s ongoing conflict.
In the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, police reported that five people were killed in two separate incidents involving the Kuki and Naga communities.
Three Kuki men were killed in an exchange of gunfire in Noney district on Saturday, according to a police statement that described the attackers as "unidentified armed miscreants".
The bodies of two additional Kuki men, who had gone missing earlier that week, were recovered in Kangpokpi district on Sunday morning after security forces launched a search operation.
Police said the killings followed a recent protest that drew hundreds of thousands of people in the capital Imphal demanding the abrogation of a ceasefire between Kuki armed groups and the Indian state.
A top Kuki tribal body blamed Naga separatist outfits for the killings, describing them as a …
direct unprovoked assault … in their homeland.
The new violence adds to a long‑standing conflict over disputed borders, wherein the predominantly Christian Kuki and Naga tribes have clashed since the 1950s over control of land in the remote region.
Local residents say a Naga man was allegedly assaulted by Kuki men in February of this year, which sparked a series of retaliations that culminated in the May killing of three Kuki pastors, reportedly carried out by Naga armed groups.
Both sides have since carried out abductions and targeted killings, deepening mistrust and fueling further bloodshed.
Manipur is also the site of an ongoing ethnic conflict between the Kuki and the mainly Hindu Meitei community that began in May 2023 over economic benefits and job quotas.
Official estimates indicate that more than 60,000 people have been displaced by the conflict and live in temporary shelters.
So far over 300 people have died in the wider Manipur‑Kuki‑Naga conflict, making it one of the region’s deadliest clashes in recent years.
Police and local authorities are continuing search operations while protests and calls for a ceasefire remain a central feature of the region’s political landscape.
