A 56-year-old Kuki woman and her daughter were injured in a fresh gun battle between two armed groups in Manipur’s ethnic violence-hit Kangpokpi district, even as at least three houses were set on fire in a separate incident on Sunday.
Police said the gunfight broke out around 5:10 pm at Thengkhojganj village near Imphal-Silchar National Highway.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur civic body condemned the attack, describing it as barbaric and cowardly. It blamed the Naga rebel groups, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Issac Muivah), or NSCN-IM, and the Zeilingrung United Front (ZUF), for the attack.
The Kuki National Presidential Front (KNF-P) faction and the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), both Kuki factions, which signed a suspension of operations agreement with the government, were involved in the gunfight, the officials said. They added that KNF-P forces attacked a KRA camp, triggering a gun battle that left the mother and her eight-year-old daughter injured.
The two were transferred to Imphal Regional Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital for treatment. Hospital authorities said that both of them were shot in the thighs and were in stable condition. In a separate incident around the same time, at least three houses were set on fire in the nearby village of Sitjang.
Kuki Inpi Manipur said that the police and district administration took care of the security of every village. “A memorandum of understanding has also been concluded with the Manipur government that the security and safety of innocent villagers and hamlets within the Kangpokpi district will be the responsibility of the district police, and that Kuki-Zu volunteers need not guard their villages. These safeguards have now been shattered.”
The Kuki Commission called for an immediate, transparent, fair and time-bound investigation.
Tensions between the Naga and Kuki have escalated since the May 13 double ambush in Noni and Kangpokpi, which left three church leaders and a Naga man dead. The Nagas protested and blocked national highways, demanding justice since the mutilated bodies of six Nagas were recovered.
The six were among 48 people kidnapped and held hostage by separate Kuki and Naga groups following the double ambush on May 13. All Kuki hostages and 14 Naga hostages were released.
Ethnic clashes in Manipur first began between the Meitei and Kuki communities before encompassing almost all communities. The state’s Meite and Kuki Zou communities have isolated each other from areas they dominate since ethnic clashes began in May 2023 and left at least 260 people dead and 60,000 displaced.
The Metis people, most of whom are Hindu, live largely in the Imphal Valley. Members of the Kuki tribe, most of whom are Christians, reside in the hills. The state government confirmed that there are no buffer zones dividing communities in the state, but it has identified some sensitive areas.
In February, a new government was formed, almost a year after the “presidential law” was imposed. It includes representatives of the three main communities as part of an attempt to maintain ethnic balance.
