Two Kuki tribesmen reported missing after leaving home to repair a water pipe on the outskirts of a village in Ukhrul district were found dead on Thursday in the Mapithel hill range, authorities said, a development that has reignited Kuki–Tangkhul Naga tensions even as the Union home ministry secured the release of 21 Tangkhul Naga travellers detained a day earlier.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of Thangboimang Khongsai, 35, and Thengin Baite, 40, police and local officials said. The news came shortly after state home minister Govindas Konthoujam told the Manipur assembly that the 21 Tangkhul Naga men, women and children who had been “detained” by suspected Kuki militants since Wednesday had been freed.
In immediate fallout, protesters attacked a police vehicle at Mongkot Chepu and blocked the Ukhrul–Imphal Road with boulders and stones, disrupting traffic and heightening local tensions. Security forces were deployed to clear the obstruction and restore order, officials added.
Local authorities in Shangkai village said Khongsai and Baite were attacked by Tangkhul Naga “volunteers” while working in the hills. A third Kuki villager, Lanminthang Kipgen, survived the assault with a gunshot wound to his leg and was hospitalized in Kangpokpi district. The accounts were provided by the Shangkai Village Authority and are under investigation.
Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh said the new BJP government would hand the matter to the National Investigation Agency for a “thorough, impartial probe,” signaling a federal-level inquiry into the killings and related incidents.
The latest violence follows a February clash at Litan Sareikhong in Ukhrul, where an attack on a Tangkhul Naga man on Feb 7 triggered three days of arson and gunfire, officials said. More than 20 houses and government quarters were burned and prohibitory orders were imposed in Litan after the violence.
Kukis and Nagas share a long history of ethnic conflict in Manipur, rooted in disputes over land and identity. Hostilities peaked in the 1990s, when clashes killed more than 1,000 people and displaced tens of thousands. The broader region remains volatile following the Meitei–Kuki unrest that began on May 3, 2023, after a Manipur high court order on Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community; that conflict has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced.
Authorities said investigations are ongoing and urged calm while security and relief measures continue in affected areas.
Original Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/two-kukis-found-dead-after-mha-intervenes-to-free-naga-hostages/articleshow/129529988.cms
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Publish Date: 2026-03-13 05:17:00
