Suspected Myanmar-based Kuki militants allegedly attacked Naga villages in Manipur’s Kamjong district on Thursday, The Hindu reported.

Kamjong borders Myanmar. The Tangkhul Nagas are the dominant community in the district.

Around 100 heavily armed men attacked three villages – Choro, Wanglee and Namlee – located close to the international border, an apex body of the Tangkhul Nagas was quoted as saying by the newspaper. The men fired indiscriminately and also set fire to 18 houses.

The working committee of the Tangkhul Naga Long also said that two civilians sustained bullet injuries while several others were rounded up at gunpoint and tortured by the armed men, reported The Hindu.

The attack came days after three persons were killed and several others injured in the Ukhrul district on April 24 after violence broke out between the Kuki and Naga communities.

Two of those killed were Kukis, while the third was a Tangkhul Naga.

On Thursday, Naga People’s Front MLA Leishiyo Keishing, who represents the Phungyar constituency, also alleged that the militants abducted two persons before returning to Myanmar.

Keishing claimed that the attack was carried out from across the border by Myanmar-based militant groups Kuki National Army (Burma) and the People’s Defence Force, PTI reported.

“So far, the state had been seeing internal conflicts, but today there has been external aggression,” the news agency quoted him as saying. “A combined force of Kuki National Army-B and People’s Defence Force attacked four to five border villages at 3.30 am.”

He added that there were no fatalities, but added that several houses were set on fire.

The MLA also said that the Manipur Police was not present in the area.

The Tangkhul Naga Long said that the villages were attacked at about 3.30 a.m.

“The civilian settlements were also heavily bombed with drones, rocket launchers and lathode guns, destroying several houses while some were razed to the ground,” The Hindu quoted the organisation as saying. “Moreover, the villagers were looted and fired upon by the Myanmar-based Kuki militants.”

It added that the incident took place about 200 metres from the 11 Assam Rifles company stationed between Choro and Aloyo. The paramilitary force guards the border between India and Myanmar.

The Assam Rifles failed to keep the border safe from external aggression, the body alleged.

“The safety and security of the villagers residing along the India-Myanmar border has been blatantly compromised, and the Centre must take immediate action and own responsibility for the strategic security failure,” the newspaper quoted the Tangkhul Naga Long as saying.

Apart from Kamjong, Tangkhul Nagas also dominate the adjoining Ukhrul district.

Tensions between Kukis and Nagas in Ukhrul had erupted on February 7, when an alleged assault involving members of the Tangkhul Naga and the Kuki-Zo communities escalated into clashes.

The incident, in which a Tangkhul Naga man was injured following an altercation, triggered days of arson and firing in Litan and nearby villages. Subsequent efforts by civil society groups from both communities to resolve the dispute failed and intermittent violence continued.

This violence signalled a shift in clashes in Manipur from the Meitei-dominated plains to the hills.

Ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023, leaving at least 260 persons dead and more than 59,000 persons displaced. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024 and 2025.