Two Naga Civilians Shot Dead In Manipur's Senapati

Synopsis

On September 26 unidentified gunmen killed two Naga civilians and wounded two others in Kalenjang village of Manipur's Senapati district. The attack came just an hour before the United Naga Council had decided to suspend its four-month economic blockade of the national highways after holding three-way talks in Guwahati.

The Attack

Two people from the Naga community were killed and two injured in a suspected militant attack on two Naga civilians in the Manipur border area of Kangpokpi-Senapati on Saturday around 3 pm in Kalenjang village near the Naga dominated Senapati district, officials said.

According to the police, the victims are Rocky Mao of Chowainamei village and Kumar Poumai of Laii Shirafii village while the injured are Adani Manio, 33, and Ashiho Sani, 49, who are being treated under at a private hospital in the town of Senapati.

After the incident, the dead bodies were brought to Senapati District Hospital, the officials added. Attacks have not yet been officially confirmed as to who they were.

Playing against a fragile truce

The timing of the attack is of special importance. The killings were just an hour before the United Naga Council announced that it would lift the economic blockade of the national highways in the state after four months.

In a statement, NG Lorho, president of the United Naga Council (UNC) said that, "As per the agreement reached in the tripartite talks organised among the Government of Manipur, Government of India and the United Naga Council in Guwahati on September 26, 2026.

The council hereby states that the ongoing economic blockade will be suspended from 6:00 PM of September 26, 2026 and the council appreciates the cooperation and solidarity of all the concerned during the course of the agitation.

An incident of recent violence

The Kalenjang shooting is not an isolated incident. It arrived days after four Naga Tangkhul civilians were shot dead on September 24, in Pilong village in Kamjong district near the international border by suspected militants from Myanmar.

According to local reports, the Kalenjang incident was allegedly perpetrated by Kuki armed groups, but as yet, authorities have not confirmed who the shooter or what armed group was.

Political Condemnation

Some reactions from both sides of the political fence have come in around the topic of accountability.

Manipur Congress president and Leader of the opposition Okram Ibobi Singh strongly condemned the killing of innocent civilians from the Naga, Kuki and Meitei communities and said, "The ruling BJP is a silent spectator when it comes to civilian killings.

The Manipur state government has decried the killings as the acts of unidentified militants through its Chief Minister's office.

The greater conflict context

Even a little over three years after it began, the separate Kuki-Meitei conflict has not yet been resolved, while the relationship between Naga and Kuki has worsened since the start of 2026 and both communities blame each other for around 40 deaths since February.

The cancellation of the blockade, negotiated by the three sides in the conflict just after clashes broke out, revealed how precarious de-escalations are in a country where economic and ethnic tensions are strongly interconnected.

What Comes Next

The effect of the UNC interference cannot be measured until investigations into the Kalenjang shooting are complete, and security forces know who the perpetrators are and stop further retaliatory violence, which has proven elusive in Manipur's decades-long conflict.