Protesters in Manipur on Monday placed the bodies of two men outside Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh’s home in Imphal after they were killed by suspected militants near the border of Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts.
Imphal East is predominantly inhabited by Meiteis, while Kangpokpi is a Kuki-majority district.
A group had brought the bodies to Imphal to protest the continuing violence in the state since 2023. An eyewitness told Scroll that the police fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse the protesters, following which the bodies were taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences.
The two persons who died were identified as 35-year-old Arubam Ronil and 51-year-old Lairenlakpam Inaobi. They were among a group of firewood collectors who came under fire near the boundary of Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts. Four persons were injured in the attack.
One of the injured men, 32-year-old Ksh Sushil later succumbed to his injuries taking the toll to three in the incident.
Ethnic clashes had first broken out in Manipur in May 2023 between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities.
The state was under President’s Rule between February 2025 and February 2026 after Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Biren Singh stepped down as the chief minister amid allegations from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar groups that his response...