Suspected armed extremists ambushed a team of tribal church leaders in Kangpokpi district of Manipur on Wednesday morning (May 13, 2026), killing three of them and injuring four.

The victims, members of the Thadou Baptist Association of India (TBAI) and the United Baptist Council (UBC), were travelling in two vehicles from a Baptist convention in Churachandpur to Kangpokpi when they were attacked. The incident occurred on the hilly Tiger Road between Kotlen and Kotzim villages around 10 a.m.

One of the survivors told security personnel that the assailants came on foot and slipped away after firing a volley of bullets for three or four minutes from the hillside of the underprepared road that connects the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts, bypassing the non-tribal Meitei-majority Imphal Valley. Kukis have been avoiding the much shorter highway through this valley since the ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities erupted on May 3, 2023.

Those who lost their lives were TBAI president Reverend Vumthang Sitlhou, TBAI finance secretary Rev. Kaigoulun Lhouvum, and Pastor Paogoulen Sitlhou. The TBAI president had recently led a delegation of Kuki Christian leaders to the adjoining Nagaland to broker peace between the Kukis and Tangkhul Nagas in the restive Kamjong and Ukhrul districts of Manipur.

While three of the four injured were rushed to a private hospital in Imphal for treatment, a fifth survivor, who managed to escape, was later tracked and rescued from the hills, an official told The Hindu.

“Some 8-10 armed men are suspected to have opened fire on two vehicles with automatic weapons, most likely AK-47 rifles. They were likely hiding in the hills,” the official said.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Army, joint columns of security forces assisted in evacuating the injured to the nearest medical facility. “The joint columns are undertaking extensive search and area domination operations,” an official monitoring Manipur said.

Several Thadou (a section claims it is a distinct community and not a constituent of the Kuki group of tribes), Kuki, and Zomi organisations have announced a “total shutdown” in Kangpokpi, Churachandpur, and other districts to protest the killings. The shutdown is for three days.

String of condemnations

Condemning the incident, Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh said he visited the injured at the hospital along with Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam, and other MLAs to ensure the injured get the highest standard of care. He said the government would bear their medical expenses.

He said such attacks, undermining the collective effort of the people to restore normalcy in Manipur, were unacceptable. “I urge people to immediately stop abductions, taking hostages, and intimidation on community lines,” he said, assuring the people that the government would use every resource to bring the perpetrators and their handlers to justice.

A statement issued by the Senapati district unit of the United Naga Council said about 20 Nagas of Konsakhul village were held hostage by people from Leilon Vaiphei village soon after the ambush.

In the same district dominated by the Nagas, the chairman of a Kuki village urged the Senapati police to release 23 Kuki labourers “detained” by locals.

Nagaland’s Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, his Meghalaya and Mizoram counterparts Conrad K. Sangma and Lalduhoma also condemned the killing of the Kuki church leaders. “I urge the authorities in Manipur to take immediate and strict action against those responsible,” Mr. Sangma said.

Manipur’s Naga Legislature Forum, comprising nine MLAs, also issued a joint statement, calling for peace and the release of all Kuki and Naga civilians detained or abducted in the aftermath of the “cold-blooded murder of unarmed and peace-loving religious leaders”.

Apart from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, the Kuki Zo Council, and the Thadou Inpi Manipur, the Guwahati-headquartered United Christian Forum of North East India (UCFNEI) expressed grief over the killings of the church leaders.

“This brutal and inhuman act of violence has claimed the lives of innocent servants of God who dedicated their lives to peace, service, and the spiritual uplift of their communities,” UCFNEI spokesperson Allen Brooks said, adding that these church leaders were “not only spiritual shepherds but also pillars of hope, reconciliation, and moral guidance in a region long scarred by conflict”.

Finger-pointing begins

Almost all extremist and radical groups, in ceasefire or subversion mode, have been accused of executing the operation against the church leaders to complicate the law-and-order situation in the State, yet to recover from the ethnic conflict that broke out in May 2023.

These outfits include the National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN (Isak-Muivah), the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), the ZUF (Kamson), the Arambai Tenggol, and the Kuki National Army. All these groups have denied any involvement in the attack.

The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) alleged that the ambush was carried out by the NSCN (I-M) in “active collusion” with the ZUF as a “premeditated act of terrorism”. The trust further stated that the victims were instrumental in convening a peace consultation under the auspices of the Nagaland Christian Forum, “a fragile but vital initiative that the NSCN-IM has now answered with bullets”.

The KOHUR further said that the slain church leaders were symbols of reconciliation, who had stood, at considerable personal risk, for dialogue between the Kuki and Tangkhul Naga communities.

There have been a series of attacks involving the Kukis and Tangkhul Nagas in Manipur’s Ukhrul and Kamjong since February this year. Several lives were lost, and houses were burned down during the attacks.

A Naga organisation did not rule out the possibility of some Kuki extremist groups having killed the church leaders to sabotage the Manipur Chief Minister’s peace initiatives. The slain Baptist leaders were reportedly scheduled to meet the Chief Minister ahead of his visit to Churachandpur on May 15.

The security forces, however, said the ambush could have been a case of mistaken identity. “It appears that the attackers did not know that church leaders were travelling in the two vehicles. Investigations are on to identify the killers,” a security official said.