Five Kuki men killed in Manipur in ethnic clashes between Kuki and Naga groups

Five people belonging to the Kuki community were killed in Manipur in two separate instances of ethnic violence over the weekend of November 1. Three Kuki-Zo men were killed in a gunfight with Naga groups in Manipur's Noni district on Saturday. In a separate incident, bodies of two missing Kuki men were recovered in bags days after their alleged abduction, triggering protests and clashes between security forces.

The three men killed on Saturday were identified as Thanglensang Singson, Thangkhosei Haokip and Lamminsang Kipgen, all residents of Churachandpur district. The Kuki Inpi Manipur, the community's apex body, said the three were village volunteers. It blamed the state government for failing to provide adequate security to Kuki-Zo communities.
The bodies of two other Kuki civilians, who went missing from Taphou Kuki village on Wednesday, were recovered in Kangpokpi district on Sunday morning after a security search operation, Manipur Police said. Kuki communities blamed Naga separatist outfits for the killings, calling them a "direct unprovoked assault... in their homeland."

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The killings came as hundreds of thousands of people joined mass protests in Imphal and other areas demanding the withdrawal of a ceasefire arrangement with Kuki armed groups. The rally was taken out by people from Meitei organisations, backed by Naga civil society groups. Naga organisations also demonstrated in several hill districts, accusing Kuki-Zo militant groups of involvement in violence.
Kuki–Naga tensions have escalated since February, when a Naga man was allegedly assaulted by Kuki men. The killing of three Kuki pastors in May, allegedly by Naga armed groups, set off a cycle of retaliatory abductions and killings. The latest deaths take the toll in Kuki–Naga clashes since February to 68.