Twenty-eight civilians, held captive by armed groups on both sides of the Kuki-Naga divide in Manipur’s Kangpokpi and Senapati districts, were released on Friday, May 15, in a coordinated exchange facilitated by the United Naga Council, civil society organisations, security forces and state government representatives.
Of the 28 freed, 14 were Naga civilians held by Kuki groups and 14 were Kuki villagers held by Naga groups. Twelve Naga women from Konsakhul village, who had been held by armed militants, were released at Makhan village. Four men and ten women from the Kuki community, held in Senapati district, were handed over to security forces late Thursday night.
Two Salesian brothers of Don Bosco, Brother Pamei Aching Albert SDB and Brother Poji Kiivisie Peter SDB, one of them from Nagaland, were released by armed groups on the night of May 14 at separate locations. In a statement issued on May 14, Fr Joseph Pampackal SDB, Provincial of the Salesian Province of Dimapur, placed on record the Province’s appreciation to the Kuki community for ensuring that no physical harm was inflicted upon the two brothers during their captivity.
One of the women released from Ireng Liangmai village near Singda Dam described what the days in captivity had been like. As reported in the Ukhrul Times, she said: “We were blindfolded, our hands tied behind our back and taken up and down to various locations of the mountainous and jungle region. We even had our food blindfolded. However, we were never touched once or assaulted.”
The releases came two days after a sequence of events that rapidly drew civilians from both communities into a crisis. On the morning of May 13, unidentified armed assailants ambushed two vehicles carrying members of the Thadou Baptist Association India on the Kotlen-Kotzim road in Kangpokpi district, killing three church leaders and injuring four others.
The victims were returning from the first United Baptist Convention Assembly in Churachandpur. Within hours of the ambush, the situation spiralled.
According to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, a Kuki body, the attackers fled toward Ireng Naga village and abducted six Kuki civilians along the way. In response, villagers from Leilon Vaiphei held Naga civilians captive. The United Naga Council gave a different account, alleging that Kuki groups from Leilon Vaiphei had moved first.
The Senapati District Students’ Association then took 23 Kuki labourers from Taphou into custody, men who had gone to Naga areas for commercial wood extraction work, along with two others from Senapati Bazaar. In a separate incident on the same day, unidentified gunmen shot dead a civilian and wounded his wife in Noney district.
By May 14, Manipur Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam confirmed that over 38 people from both communities were being held by various groups. “We are actively holding discussions with civil society groups, church leaders and political representatives to secure their immediate release,” he said. He added: “We suspect a faction is deliberately operating to ensure peace does not return to Manipur.”
The army proposed a one-for-one exchange, which the Kuki side initially rejected. The ITLF said its side held only 14 Naga hostages while a far larger number of Kukis had been taken, making the exchange unequal. Talks stalled and families began protesting.
The government and army subsequently assured the Kuki side that all hostages would be returned alive. Upon that assurance, Kuki groups released all 14 Naga civilians in their custody, and the Naga side freed 14 Kuki hostages in return.
The number of those still missing remains disputed. The Ukhrul Times and most mainstream reports place the figure at six male detainees from Konsakhul village, whose whereabouts remain unknown. The ITLF puts the number at 14 Kuki men, saying that of the original 31 Kuki hostages it says were taken, two escaped, one minor was released earlier and 14 were freed in the exchange, leaving 14 men whose fate remains unclear. No official confirmation has been issued regarding either figure, and the government said efforts to secure the release of those still missing are continuing.
The speed with which the abductions followed the ambush reflects tensions that had been building since February. A drunken brawl among youths in Litan Sareikhong village in Ukhrul district on February 7 set off a chain of events that left over 50 houses and government offices burned, hardening hostility between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities across Ukhrul, Kamjong and Senapati districts. The May 13 ambush struck in that already volatile environment.
The Kuki-Naga conflict has a longer history. Over 1,000 people were killed in clashes between the two communities between 1992 and 1997, displacing families across the hill districts. The current escalation is the most serious in recent years. Manipur has also been living with the Meitei-Kuki conflict that erupted in May 2023, which has claimed over 260 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people.
