Four Naga villages attacked in Manipur, pastor shot at

Unknown extremists attacked four Liangmai Naga villages along the Imphal-Tamenglong Road in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Tuesday (September 1, 2026), less than 24 hours after three Kuki villagers were killed in the vicinity.

The Ukhrul-headquartered Working Committee of the Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL), the community’s apex body, claimed that the Kuki National Front-Presidential (KNF-P) carried out the attacks in collusion with the Kuki National Army (KNA).

According to the TNL, the assailants shot at and critically injured Luithuibou Newmai, the pastor of Tapon village, and torched several houses in the affected villages till early afternoon.

“The coordinated armed attacks on four Naga villages were carried out by the KNF-P and KRA cadres led by Jangboi Kipgen, who is also the home secretary of the United People’s Front, an umbrella organisation of Kuki-Zo militant groups operating in Manipur,” the TNL said in a statement.

Noting that these Kuki groups were under the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the Centre, the TNL said the Liangmai Nagas have been under constant attack from Kuki extremists for the past few months.

“The modus operandi of the migrant Kukis unleashing repetitive armed offensives within the jurisdiction of Kangpokpi (district) is clearly intended to effect a demographic change. The landless Kukis are utilising and employing this pattern of attacks to establish their hegemony over the ancestral land of the Nagas by uprooting us from our homes,” the TNL said.

The TNL condemned the attacks and criticised the government for its alleged inability to rein in the Kuki groups under the SoO agreement.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected across large swathes of Manipur—specifically the five districts of Imphal Valley—on Tuesday (September 1, 2026) after the Campaign for Justice and Fair Delimitation (JFD) enforced a 24-hour general strike despite the Centre having deferred the Census exercise in the State on Monday (August 31, 2026).

The JFD wants the government to prepare the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State before conducting the Census.

The shutdown affected business establishments, public transport, and vehicular movement in several areas, with protesters blocking roads and preventing the movement of vehicles, except those providing essential and emergency services.

The Manipur government had appealed to the JFD to withdraw the shutdown after the Centre announced the deferment of the Census exercise. The organisation proceeded with the strike, maintaining that the Registrar General of India should make the deferment formal through a gazette notification.