The bullet-riddled bodies of four Tangkhul Naga civilians were found at Pilong village in Manipur’s Kamjong district near the Myanmar border in the early hours of Friday, with police suspecting that militants from across the border were behind the killings.
Police suspect the involvement of the Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B), a Myanmar-based militant group, although this has not been officially confirmed. The attack is believed to have taken place late on Thursday evening, when unidentified armed men attacked five villagers near India-Myanmar border pillar number 95, according to police. The bodies were found around 1.30am at an isolated spot in the remote village, around 34 km from the Kamjong district headquarters, following a search by police and villagers. Meanwhile, the Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL), a Tangkhul Naga civil body, imposed a 24-hour total shutdown in Tangkhul Naga-inhabited areas of Ukhrul and Kamjong districts in protest against the killings.
Four were killed, while one managed to escape and alert authorities, they said. They were brought to Kamjong district hospital for post-mortem examination, police said. “In connection with the incident a sou-moto case has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 329 (3) (criminal trespass), 137(2) (kidnapping), 103 (2) (murder by group of five or more on specific ground), 351 (criminal intimidation), and section 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and section 25(1)(C) of the Arms Act, 1959,” said police in a statement.
