Kuki village torched in Manipur’s Noney district in pre-dawn attack

Manipur’s trail of violence widened further on Thursday, July 2, 2026, when an armed group attacked and set ablaze a Kuki village in Noney district around 5 am.

The Kuki Inpi (apex body) of Jiribam, Tamenglong and Noney districts has alleged that suspected members of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) carried out an “unprovoked” pre-dawn attack on Leikot Kuki village and reduced the village to ashes.

NSCN is also known as the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, one of the oldest extremist groups in the northeastern region.

Kuki Inpi said village volunteers, armed with licensed single-barreled firearms and limited resources, tried to defend the village but were overwhelmed by attackers using automatic rifles and mortar rounds.

The incident took place 200 km west of the India-Myanmar border, where armed Naga groups allegedly set fire to Phaimol Kuki village and Kuki extremists destroyed Huimin Thana and Kherongram villages in a retaliatory attack. The villages on the international border are in the Kamjong district.

Thursday’s attack signaled the expansion of the Kuki-Naga conflict zone, which began in the Ukhrul district and spread to the adjacent Kamjong and Kangpokpi districts.

Condemning the attack on Leilot Kuki village, Kuki Inpi questioned the inadequate security arrangements in sensitive areas of Noney district and demanded immediate government intervention. It was also requested that a comprehensive and impartial investigation be conducted into such attacks to identify and punish those responsible.

NSCN did not react but Naga civil society organizations said the Kukis might have staged the Noney village incident.