REUTERS, Guwahati

At least two people from the Kuki community were killed in attacks by armed men in India’s restive state of Manipur yesterday, two senior police officers said, a day after authorities recovered the bodies of six men from the rival Naga community, who were believed to have been taken hostage.

The two predominantly Christian tribes have a long history of conflict over competing claims to ethnic homelands in the northeastern state, but the recent fighting erupted after a Naga man was allegedly assaulted by men from the Kuki community in February.

The killing of three Kuki pastors in May, allegedly by Naga armed groups, had triggered a series of retaliatory abductions by both sides, but most of the hostages were released over the past month, with only the six Naga men still missing.

Seven houses were torched yesterday’s attack, launched around daybreak, killing two people and injuring two more, one of the police officers told Reuters, declining to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

A Kuki civil organisation in Kamjong district, where the violence occurred, said the victims were community leaders involved with the church. Police have not identified the perpetrators of the attack or the community to which they belong, but said the situation remains “tense and volatile”.

Similar prolonged fighting between Nagas and Kukis in 1993 had left hundreds dead. Kuki community has also been involved in fighting with the mostly Hindu Meitei community since May 2023 over economic benefits and job quotas.