Village volunteer gunned down in Manipur violence

A 29-year-old man was killed and three others were injured in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district during a gunfight between Kuki and Meitei groups that lasted for at least six hours on Saturday, the first new fatality the strife-torn state in nine days.

- Prawesh Lama

Security forces rushed to the spot in the afternoon as reports of the gunfight emerged, prompting some unidentified gunmen to enter an abandoned Kuki village and burn down houses.

On Saturday evening, Kuki civil society groups shared videos showing gunmen in military fatigues at the abandoned villages — HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos or the location.

Kangpokpi is a Kuki-dominated hill district that shares a boundary with the Imphal valley, where the Meiteis are in a majority — the two communities have been locked in a deadly confrontation since May last year, leading to the deaths of at least 200 people and forcing tens of thousands of families to flee their homes.

Officials aware of the matter identified the deceased as Timlun Khongsai, a Kuki village defence volunteer who died of bullet injuries. The three injured, a security official said asking not to be named, were from the Meitei community and were admitted to a hospital in Imphal.

Family members of Khongsai who spoke to HT over the phone said that he had joined village defence volunteers’ group in October 2023 and was guarding the abandoned Kuki villages in the Satang hill range of Kangpokpi. The hill range shares its border with Meitei villages in Imphal West.