At least nine people were killed and about 14 homes burned in a new wave of violence across Manipur’s hill districts, officials said Saturday, as gunfights between community volunteers and armed groups stretched from Kamjong to Kangpokpi and Ukhrul within 24 hours.
The dead included six Nagas, two Kukis and one man of Nepalese origin, according to district officials and village volunteers cited by The Indian Express and Hindustan Times. Four fatalities were recorded in each of Kamjong and Kangpokpi, with another commuter killed in an ambush along National Highway 202 near Ukhrul. Security forces imposed prohibitory orders around the Chassad police station in Kamjong after assailants tried to set it ablaze early Saturday, triggering exchanges of fire that lasted until about 7 a.m.
How the night unfolded
Tension escalated Friday night when unidentified attackers torched houses in multiple villages, officials said. In Kangpokpi district, three Naga village guards were killed around 5 a.m. Saturday during an attack on Makui village, according to police accounts relayed by local volunteers. The Committee on Tribal Unity, a Kuki-Zo body, announced a 24-hour shutdown across Kangpokpi starting Saturday in response to the killings.
In Ukhrul, police identified Sandeep Rai, 30, as the man killed when gunmen ambushed his car near Konjang village along NH-202, roughly 12 kilometers northwest of Litan police station. Investigators said they had not established a motive or named suspects. Separately, a Naga volunteer died in an ambush on the Tamenglong road, with two others wounded and evacuated to Senapati for treatment, the Indian Express reported.
Delhi meetings as hills burn
Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh was in New Delhi as the violence flared, briefing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on efforts to restore normalcy. Modi assured “all possible assistance,” according to a readout cited by the Indian Express, while Singh highlighted resumed Imphal–Dimapur–Guwahati bus services and goods movement on NH-37 and NH-2. He also sought central support to upgrade the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal to AIIMS status, a long-standing demand in a state where wounded fighters and civilians often travel hours for trauma care.
The latest deaths mark one of the deadliest single days since ethnic clashes convulsed Manipur more than two years ago. Although the state government has touted incremental reopening of transport corridors, hill communities remain heavily militarized, with village volunteers manning checkpoints and distrusting centrally deployed forces they accuse of responding slowly to arson calls.
What authorities promise next
Manipur police have not released a consolidated timeline tying each killing to a specific armed faction, and both Naga and Kuki-Zo organizations have traded blame in local statements that cannot be independently verified. Federal Home Ministry officials have periodically flown in additional paramilitary companies, yet sporadic arson and ambush tactics continue to outpace prosecutions.
For residents along NH-202 and the Kamjong–Chassad axis, the immediate concern is whether Saturday’s gunfights harden existing buffer zones or invite reprisal burnings. Singh told reporters after his Delhi meetings that the administration would “leave no stone unturned” to punish perpetrators, but with nine fresh graves and a dozen charred houses, hill leaders say rhetoric in the capital will matter less than disarming rogue units and reopening investigative access to the villages where the fires started.