Photo: Houruoha / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Security forces in Manipur on Sunday found the bodies of two young Kuki-Zo men who had been missing for five days, taking the number of Kuki-Zo men killed in the state’s hill districts since Saturday morning to five. The discovery came a day after three members of the community were shot dead in a gunfight in Noney district.
Search ends on the Senapati-Kangpokpi road
The two men, both around 20 years old, disappeared on October 28, and officials suspect they were abducted while travelling near Taphou Kuki village. Police said several rounds of searches by Manipur Police, the CRPF and Assam Rifles had failed to trace them.
On Sunday a larger joint team, which also included CoBRA commandos and the Rapid Action Force, combed the hilly area east of National Highway 2 along the road linking Senapati and Kangpokpi, where the bodies were recovered. They were later taken to Kangpokpi, where tension was reported to be high.
Police said legal formalities had been completed and that combing operations would continue until those responsible were caught. They have not said who killed the men or how they died, and said precautions had been taken to prevent further trouble in the district.
Three killed in Noney gunfight
On Saturday, three Kuki men from Churachandpur district were killed at Kekru Naga village in the Nungba sub-division of Noney district. Police named them as Thanglensang Singson, Thangkhosei Haokip and Lamminsang Kipgen. Firing between unidentified armed groups had been reported in the area on and off since October 29, police said, and Saturday’s exchange, which began around 10 am, was the first in three days to cause deaths.
Police said they recovered four automatic assault rifles, a single-barrel rifle, a drone, ammunition and improvised explosives from the spot. They have not publicly identified the attackers.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of Kuki tribes, said the three were village volunteers and blamed the NSCN-IM and the Zeliangrong United Front (Kamson) for the killings. The allegation has not been confirmed by police.
The murder of these three brave village volunteers in Noney district is the direct consequence of the state’s reckless refusal to provide adequate security to vulnerable Kuki-Zo communities.
Kuki Inpi Manipur, in a statement
Shutdown and rival rallies
The Committee on Tribal Unity, a Kuki-Zo group in the Sadar Hills area, has enforced a total shutdown across Kangpokpi district since October 29 to press for the missing men’s release, and extended it on Saturday. The shutdown was still in force on Sunday.
Also on Saturday, thousands of people from Meitei and Naga organisations marched in Imphal, demanding that the Suspension of Operations pact with Kuki-Zo armed groups, which expired on September 24, not be renewed, and that Assam Rifles be replaced along the Myanmar border by a neutral force. That rally followed an ambush days earlier in which three Meitei men were killed.
Why it matters
Manipur has been gripped by ethnic violence since May 2023, first between Meitei and Kuki communities and, since February this year, increasingly between Kuki and Naga groups in the hills. The latest deaths come as Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh appeals for unity across communities, and as the future of the Suspension of Operations arrangement remains unresolved. Police have said searches in Kangpokpi and Noney will continue.
