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Ceasefire-Linked Kuki Insurgent Among 3 Arrested By NIA For Allegedly Killing 2 Manipur Commandos
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The NIA arrested three insurgents, including a Kuki National Army (KNA) member, for a January 2024 attack in Manipur's Moreh that killed two commandos. This highlights violation of the SoO agreement amidst the ethnic violence in the border state Manipur.
Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:
Three insurgents have been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly attacking a police post and killing two commandos in Manipur's border town Moreh in January 2024.
The arrested insurgents include a member of the Kuki National Army (KNA), a signatory to the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement under which insurgents are to stay at designated camps with weapons kept in locked storage, jointly monitored.
This is the second time an authority confirmed on record the violation of SoO ground rules by Kuki insurgents in Manipur in the last two years since Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes began in May 2023.
The KNA insurgent Kamginthang Gangte and a Churachandpur district village volunteer Hentinthang Kipgen alias Thangneo Kipgen were arrested from the state capital Imphal on June 6, the NIA said in a statement on Sunday.
"The duo was part of the team that had executed the deadly attack [in Moreh]. NIA is continuing with its investigations and search for the other perpetrators of the attack in the case," the anti-terror agency said.
The NIA said the main accused, Thangminlen Mate, is a resident of Tengnoupal district and a "member of the Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal (KIT) insurgent group".
"The three men, along with their associates, had planned, conspired and executed the attack on an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) post and security forces in Moreh, Tengnoupal district, on 17th January 2024," the NIA said.
The "Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal insurgent group" member played a key role in orchestrating and carrying out the attack in Moreh, the NIA said, adding he was arrested on May 19 in Assam's Silchar.
3 Insurgents Arrested by NIA in Attack on Manipur Security Forces Case
— NIA India (@NIA_India) June 8, 2025
SoO Agreement Ground Rules Violation
The first official confirmation of the SoO agreement's ground rules violation came from the Manipur Police in September 2024 when three Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) insurgents - all of them residents of Churachandpur district - were killed in a gunfight in Jiribam. They were Seiminlen Khongsai, Haogoulen Doungel (31), and Nehboithang Haokip (26).
The Manipur Police in September 2024 also for the first time confirmed the involvement of Meitei insurgent group UNLF (P), which had signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state, after a UNLF (P) insurgent identified as Baspatimayum Lakhi Kumar Sharma (41) was killed in the Jiribam gunfight.
The NIA's June 8, 2025 statement and the Manipur Police's September 8, 2024 statement show that insurgent groups in Manipur that have signed the SoO agreement or ceasefire with the Centre and the state have been involved in the Manipur violence.
While the authorities have confirmed only two cases of SoO agreement and ceasefire violations in the last two years, both Meitei and Kuki civil society groups accuse each other of hiding the involvement of insurgents belonging to their respective communities in dozens of cases.
Over 260 have been killed and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced in the Manipur ethnic violence.
