IMPHAL (The Thursday Times) — Suspected militants shot dead at least two men collecting firewood near the border of Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts on Monday, prompting angry residents to carry the bodies to the gate of Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh’s official residence, where police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
A senior police officer said suspected militants opened fire on the group of Meitei men near Nongshum village in Imphal East at around 9:40am, with several others injured in the attack. Security forces rushed to the scene and the injured were taken to hospital in Imphal. Reports on the overall toll varied, with some putting it at two dead and others at three, along with several injured and at least one person missing.
Protesters later brought the bodies of two of the victims to the main gate of the chief minister’s bungalow in Imphal. Police used several rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowd before the bodies were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences. Authorities tightened security around the residence and restricted movement on routes leading to it.
The Meitei Heritage Society, a civil society group, blamed “Kuki militants” for the attack and said on social media that a nearby camp belonging to the United National Liberation Front (Pambei) had been relocated in June despite objections from villagers, who it said had warned such an attack could follow. The group questioned why the state government had not provided adequate security and called for action against the attackers. The claim of Kuki militant involvement has not been independently verified.
The Khamenlok Area Core Committee, a Kuki-Zo body, condemned the killings and said “violence has never been and will never be a solution to any problem,” while warning that it feared being falsely blamed for the attack. The group recalled that its own area had been burned during communal violence in June 2023.
Chief Minister Khemchand Singh chaired a security meeting at the state secretariat with Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam, the chief secretary, the police chief and representatives of the army, Assam Rifles, CRPF and BSF, condemning what he called the “killing of innocent civilians by armed miscreants.” Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen also condemned the attack and appealed to residents to remain calm and avoid retaliation.
Manipur has been gripped by ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 2023, with more than 300 people killed and over 60,000 displaced. A period of relative calm followed the imposition of President’s Rule in February 2025 after the resignation of then-Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, but tensions have resurfaced since Khemchand Singh took office in February 2026, a period that has also seen clashes between Kuki and Naga communities.∎
