The victims were reportedly attacked while inside a house that belonged to the village chief of Kalenjang in Senapati district on Saturday afternoon. Two Naga civilians were killed and two others injured after armed assailants opened fire in a fresh incident of violence in Manipur.
Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh was in the Mao area on Saturday, which is nearly 30 km from the incident site.
The police reached the area shortly after the firing to assess the situation. However, details of what led to the attack remain unknown at this stage. The latest killings took place two days after four civilians were killed in an armed attack in Kamjong district near the India-Myanmar border . The incident had heightened concerns among Naga civil society organisations over the security of Naga civilians. The Chief Minister was attending the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Don Bosco College (Autonomous), Maram. The Kalenjang incident occurred on the day when the United Naga Council (UNC) agreed to temporarily suspend its economic blockade following tripartite talks with the Centre and the Manipur government in Assam. The blockade had been linked to the UNC’s demands concerning the killing of six Naga men abducted in May.
Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh was in the Mao area on Saturday, which is nearly 30 km from the incident site.
Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh “condemned” the incident and termed it “a cowardly act of violence against innocent lives”.
