Three people collecting firewood in a forest were killed by armed militants on Monday in Manipur ’s Imphal East district, officials aware of the matter said, the latest round of violence in the bruised state where clashes have claimed at least 306 lives since 2023.
Around 9am, militants opened fire on 16 firewood collectors – all belonging to the Meitei community – at Khongban Sunurok village in Imphal East district. This is the first incident of conflict between Meiteis and Kukis after July 13, when armed Kuki groups attacked Meitei residents in Bishnupur’s Torbung Bangla. In the last few months, at least 50 people have died in the northeastern state but a majority of them were inflicted by Naga-Kuki clashes. Instantly they opened fire from a very close range around 10-15 metres. Manipur has been reeling under violence since May 2023, when ethnic clashes first broke out between the dominant Meitei and tribal Kuki communities. Since then, almost every community has been engulfed by the spiralling violence that led to a complete breakdown of law and order, the creation of ethnic enclaves, deaths of nearly 306 people. displacement of 66,000 people, and a virtual bifurcation of the state. The Naga community was initially not a part of the strife but was pulled into the violence on May 13, when – in a twin ambush carried out at Noney district and Kangpokpi district – four civilians, including three church leaders, were killed by unknown assailants. On the same day, 48 civilians belonging to both Kuki and Naga communities were taken hostage by people from either groups. Two days later, 14 people from each community were set free. But 14 Kukis and six Nagas remained captured. After 27 days of protest and appeals for unconditional release of both the hostages, UNC, along with other Naga civil bodies, released 14 Kuki civilians on June 9. But on June 10, mutilated bodies of six Naga hostages were recovered, ratcheting up tensions.
Three others are injured. Both villages are in the Meitei-dominated Imphal East district bordering the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district. The families of the victims claimed that the attackers belonged to Kuki community but there was no official confirmation. There were no deaths in the incident. When we reached the spot we saw some unidentified armed miscreants hiding behind a pile of firewood… one of us shouted at them, asking who they were. We ran back to safety for our lives.
A survivor of the ambush – who identified himself as Thokchom Kiranjit – said, “Today we went to collect firewood.
