One person was killed and four others were injured after armed men attacked a Manipur village close to the India-Myanmar border on Saturday (October 17, 2026) afternoon.
The incident occurred at Chassad, a Kuki village in the Naga-dominated Kamjong district.
Community members identified the deceased as 35-year-old Seikhohao Haokip.
Assam Rifles personnel rescued the injured villagers: Chassad village chief Thangjahou Haokip; Phungtha village chief Seipao Haokip; Chassad Village Authority secretary Thanggin Thouthang and Chassad Village Authority member S. Khailun Haokip. They are undergoing treatment at a hospital of the paramilitary force.
Villagers said Seipao Haokip was an internally displaced person after violence forced him to flee his native village elsewhere in the district. Neither the State government nor the police issued any statement. District officials could not be reached for comment.
Kuki villagers accused Naga extremists of ambushing the five men when they had gone to repair power lines. The Kangpokpi district-based Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) termed the action of the “Tangkhul-led militants” on innocent civilians as “cowardice”. The Tangkhuls, a Naga community, form the backbone of the extremist National Socialist Council of Nagalim, also known as the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN.
The CoTU urged the government to deploy central security forces at Kuki villages along the international border, specifically Chassad, which has a history of conflict between the Kukis and Nagas dating back to the British colonial era.
More than 50 people have died in the Kuki-Naga clashes that began with an alleged drunken brawl in February, days after President’s Rule in Manipur ended. The attacks and counterattacks took place mostly in the Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district and the Naga-dominated Ukhrul and Kamjong districts.
The latest burst of conflict began on October 9 evening, claiming at least nine lives across three districts within 24 hours. The dead included a Gurkha farmer.
A few days ago, Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh appealed to public leaders and civil society organisations of different communities to prioritise peace, dialogue and harmony.
Manipur has been on the boil since May 2023, when long-standing ethnic divisions, legal disputes and social pressures led to a bloody conflict between the non-tribal Meitei people inhabiting the Imphal Valley and the hill-based Kuki-Zo tribal communities. The trigger was a Tribal Solidarity March opposing a Manipur High Court order to the State government to consider granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Meiteis.
The conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people claimed more than 260 lives and displaced about 62,000 others. The government confirmed that 49 people remain missing since the initial days of the conflict.
Published - October 17, 2026 11:22 pm IST