Correspondent
IMPHAL, Jun 11: Two persons were killed and several houses were damaged as Naga-Kuki conflict escalated in the restive Manipur following the discovery of the bodies of six Naga men who had been missing since May 13 a day ago.
Several villagers were also injured in the attack at Kultuh, a Kuki village, under Chassad police station of Kamjong district early today morning, around 4.30 am.
Among them, two critically injured villagers were airlifted to a unit hospital of the Assam Rifles at Chassad, officials said.
The police said that some unidentified armed miscreants carrying sophisticated firearms entered Kultuh village and opened indiscriminate fire upon the villagers.
During the incident, the miscreants also set fire to several houses in the village.
In the attack at least two villagers were killed and several others were injured.
The police source identified the slain persons as Letminlun Haokip (35) son of Sonsei Haokip and Lunminthang Haokip (23) son of late Thankhahao Haokip, both from the same Kultuh village.
Of the several villagers injured in the attack, two critically injured villagers were airlifted by a chopper of the Assam Rifles at Chassad. They were identified as Jangkhomang (28) son of Yamkholun and Kamminlal (27) son of late Tilpao. Both were also residents of Kultuh village.
The police source added that at least seven houses were also burnt down causing extensive damage to property.
A team of Chassad police along with security forces rushed to the spot and after taking a ground zero stock of the situation registered as a suo motu case under sections various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS, 2023 read with section 25(1-C) of the Arms Act, 1959 for investigation.
The acts of the unidentified armed miscreants amounted to the commission of cognizable offences punishable under the relevant provisions of the BNS 2023 and the Arms Act, 1959, the police added.
The attack at the Kuki village came barely a day after the discovery of the bodies of six Naga men who had been missing since May 13 and reported attack on Tanrui, a Tangkhul Naga village in the same Kamjong district by armed miscreants on the nights of June 9 and 10.
No casualty or large scale damages to the houses and properties of the village reported in the attack suspected militants armed sophisticated weapons.
The villagers claimed that the firing toward their village originated from a fortified bunker in the neighboring Thingphai (Kuki) village.
In the meantime, the Eastern Kuki Chiefs’ Association (EKCA) strongly condemned the attack at Kultuh village that killed two villagers and injured two others.
Apart from seven houses, a church was also destroyed by fire, the EKCA claimed, in a statement widely circulated on various social media platforms.
The EKCA further alleged that the attack was carried out by “cadres of the NSCN (Eastern Flank) and the Shanni National Army (SNA).”
The EKCA said that the deceased Letminlun Haokip was the head deacon of Kultuh Church and Lunminthang Haokip, the youth chairman of the church.