Naga student killed in Manipur’s Tamenglong, tribal body demands action
New Delhi: A teenage Liangmai Naga student was reportedly shot dead in Manipur’s Tamenglong district on Monday while travelling to school, prompting condemnation from a tribal organization. The killing comes amid a succession of attacks on civilians in the state’s hill districts, where Naga and Kuki settlements have suffered shootings and arson in recent weeks.
The victim was identified as NK Wiphenbou, a resident of Takou Naga village in Tamei subdivision, according to the Sentinel published from Assam. Regional news reports described him as a 17-year-old student.
India Today NE reported that the attack occurred around 10am between Upper Takou and Malek village, when Wiphenbou was reportedly returning to school. Naga village volunteers subsequently found his body on a narrow pathway, the outlet said.
Ukhrul Times initially described the incident as an attack by unidentified armed assailants along the Upper Nkou-Tamei road. The available accounts place the killing in Tamei subdivision, but a detailed police reconstruction of the circumstances was not available.
The working committee of the Joint Tribes Council condemned the killing, describing it as a “barbaric act of terrorism”. The Assam Tribune reported that the tribal body alleged Kuki involvement, a claim that could not be independently verified.
The tribal body demanded action over the student’s death, according to regional coverage. Local media reports said further information on police findings and security deployments was awaited, leaving the identity of the gunmen and the motive for the attack unresolved.
The killing follows several attacks across Tamenglong, Noney and Kangpokpi districts that have claimed civilian lives. On September 13, a couple were shot dead in a predawn attack in Tamenglong, leaving their six-year-old son seriously wounded, while two other people were killed in a separate attack in neighbouring Noney, as RNA Media had reported.
Earlier, unidentified gunmen attacked three Liangmai Naga villages in Kangpokpi on September 1, injuring a pastor and damaging or burning houses, vehicles and machinery. A day before those attacks, three Kuki villagers, including two women, were killed and four others wounded at N Teikhang village in the same district, according to reports citing police.
Road travel has also been affected by deadly attacks, with four Naga civilians reported killed in an ambush on the Imphal-Tamei road in Kangpokpi on August 27. The latest killing adds to that record of civilian deaths, although the available reporting does not establish a connection between Wiphenbou’s attackers and those responsible for the earlier incidents.
