Pregnant woman among four killed in attacks on Kuki villages in Manipur

Four killed as twin attacks hit Manipur villages

Guwahati: Four Kuki villagers were killed and another woman was reported missing after suspected NSCN (IM) and ZUF (K) cadres allegedly carried out two separate attacks in Manipur’s Tamenglong and Noney districts on Sunday.The attacks took place in L Tollen and Longpi villages on a day observed by the Kuki community as ‘Black Day’ to commemorate those killed and displaced during the violence of the 1990s.In the pre-dawn attack on L Tollen village in Tamenglong around 4am, Lhingjangai Singsit, 42, was killed. Her husband, Seikhoneh Singsit, 54, and their six-year-old son sustained gunshot injuries. Seikhoneh later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.At around 3pm, Julie Singson and Roel Gangte, both in their 30s, were killed in a separate attack in Noney’s Longpi village while reportedly collecting essential household items. Another woman from the group is reportedly missing and is feared to have been abducted. Both victims were residents of Longpi village, while Julie was reportedly pregnant.The L Tollen village authority alleged that cadres of the NSCN (IM) and ZUF (K) were behind the attack.

“While we are still bearing the deep scars of the 1993 ethnic persecution of the Kuki people under the leadership of NSCN (IM), this inhumane act has once again opened our old wounds,” it said.“This is not an isolated incident. It is a systematic and deliberate attempt to terrorize, uproot, and ethnically cleanse the Kuki-Zo villagers from our ancestral lands to fulfill their Greater Nagalim agenda. The L Tollen village authority considers this act as a blatant act of terrorism against innocent civilians and a grave violation of human rights,” the organization said.It demanded deployment of adequate central forces in L Tollen and adjoining Kuki villages, besides the arrest of those responsible.The office of the western village volunteers, Jiribam, Tamenglong and Noney, also alleged that NSCN (IM) and ZUF-K cadres carried out the Longpi attack. It said the attackers advanced towards the village centre, but were driven back after an exchange of fire with the volunteers.The Kuki Inpi Jiri, Tamenglong and Noney (JTN) has given the state govt 24 hours to take concrete action, while announcing a 24-hour economic blockade. It warned that an indefinite shutdown would follow if its demands were not met.The organisation also expressed concern that the L Tollen attack occurred only a few hundred metres from a CSF deployment.