Five men from the Kuki-Zo community were killed in two separate incidents in Manipur over the weekend as ethnic tensions between Kuki and Naga groups flared again in the northeastern Indian state.
Three Kuki men died on Saturday in an exchange of gunfire with “unidentified armed miscreants” in Noney district, police said. The incident occurred at Kekru Naga (Tazeikaiphun) village in a Rongmei-Naga majority area after days of intermittent attacks and alleged burning of structures. Local reports identified the dead as Thanglensang Singson, Thangkhosei Haokip, and Lamminsang Kipgen. Some accounts described them as village volunteers. A top Kuki tribal body blamed Naga separatist outfits, including groups such as the NSCN-IM and ZUF-K, calling the killings a “direct unprovoked assault … in their homeland.”
On Sunday, security forces recovered the bodies of two missing Kuki-Zo youths in Senapati district. The men—Paoginlal Hangsing, 20, and Tinginlun Chongloi (also referred to as Thangginlun Chongloi), about 20–21—had disappeared from Taphou Kuki village on October 28.
A joint team of Manipur Police, the CRPF’s CoBRA commandos, Assam Rifles, and the Rapid Action Force found the bodies east of National Highway-2 along the Senapati-Phaibung Road, roughly 13–14 km from the highway. The bodies were taken to Kangpokpi, where tensions remained high.
The Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Sadar Hills, had called a 48-hour total shutdown in Kangpokpi district after the pair went missing, demanding their immediate and safe release. The shutdown remained in force on Sunday. Police said legal formalities were completed and that search and combing operations would continue to identify and arrest those responsible. The circumstances of the deaths and the identities of the perpetrators remain under investigation; police have not publicly named suspects.
The latest killings come amid large protests in the state capital Imphal and other areas. Hundreds of thousands of people, organized in part by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), have demanded the abrogation of the Suspension of Operations (SoO)/ceasefire arrangement between Kuki armed groups and the Indian state.
The predominantly Christian Kuki and Naga tribes have a long history of conflict over competing claims to ethnic homelands in Manipur’s hill districts. The current phase of fighting intensified after a Naga man was allegedly assaulted by men from the Kuki community in Litan village in February 2026, an incident linked to a torchlight dispute and street brawl. The killing of three Kuki pastors in May, allegedly by Naga armed groups, triggered further retaliatory abductions and killings. Reports put the death toll in Naga-Kuki clashes since February at around 65–68, including the five latest fatalities.
These events unfold against the backdrop of the separate, larger ethnic conflict between the Kuki community and the mainly Hindu Meitei community that began in May 2023 over economic benefits, job quotas, and Scheduled Tribe status. That violence has claimed more than 300 lives overall and displaced more than 60,000 people, many of whom still live in temporary shelters. Security forces have maintained a heavy presence, including buffer zones, since the state came under President’s Rule.
Authorities said precautionary measures were in place to prevent further unrest. Investigations into both incidents are continuing.