Five men from the Kuki tribal community were killed in separate ethnic clashes in Manipur’s Kangpokpi and Noney districts on Sunday and Saturday, according to police reports. The incidents, which involved gunfire and the use of tear gas, are part of an ongoing dispute between Kuki and Naga groups over the state’s tribal status policy.
In a narrative provided by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the first incident unfolded in Kangpokpi after the bodies of two Kuki men discovered on Oct. 28 in Taphou Kuki village were recovered. Government forces fired tear gas and used batons to disperse a crowd, and several protesters were reportedly injured. The second incident occurred in Noney, where police said three Kuki men were killed amid a gun‑fire exchange between unidentified armed groups in Kekru Naga village. Police are conducting a search operation to identify those responsible, and a top Kuki tribal body has accused Naga outfits of the killings.
Reuters, citing its Asian bureau, reports that the same three Kuki men were slain in an exchange of fire between “unidentified armed miscreants” in the Noney district on Saturday. The agency notes that the death toll from the day's violence brought the total fatalities in the state’s ongoing tribal conflict to 306, with 49 individuals missing, according to local officials.
Hiru News English, a regional outlet, conveyed the death toll in a brief Facebook post, stating that five Kuki tribal men died in two separate incidents and that police had confirmed the fatalities on Sunday. The post did not provide details on the incidents’ circumstances or the broader conflict.
StreetInsider, aggregating Reuters coverage, added that the five deaths occurred in two distinct locations across Manipur, with three men from the Kuki tribe killed in the Noney district. The piece cites the same unnamed armed adversaries described by Reuters.
Across all reports, there is consensus that the killings were linked to ethnic tensions between the Kuki and Naga groups and that they represent a continuation of violence that began on May 3, 2023, when advocates for the non‑tribal Meitei community launched a protest demanding inclusion in the state’s scheduled‑tribe list.
Xinhua notes that the broader conflict has already claimed over 300 victims since the May uprising and that the Indian federal government imposed direct rule over Manipur in February of the preceding year, an order that lasted nearly a year before being lifted in February of the current year. The state’s local government’s figures of 306 deaths and 49 missing individuals reflect the wider tragedy of the unrest.
