Manipur Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam on Thursday said that “more than 38 people” belonging to the Naga and Kuki communities have been held hostage by several groups in the state, PTI reported.

“We are actively holding discussions with civil society groups and political leaders to secure their release,” the news agency quoted Konthoujam as telling reporters.

Fresh violence erupted in Manipur on Wednesday after three church leaders were killed and five others injured when the vehicles they were travelling in were ambushed while they were returning from a meeting in Churachandpur to Kangpokpi.

While the apex body of the Kuki tribes, Kuki Inpi Manipur, alleged that the armed Naga group Zeliangrong United Front-Kamson faction was behind the attack, the authorities said that the involvement of militant outfits was being investigated.

Another civilian was killed and his wife wounded in Noney district, PTI reported.

The United Naga Council alleged that after the ambush, about 20 Nagas from the Konsakhul village had been held hostage by some persons from the village of Leilon Vaiphei.

Shutdowns were called for by the Kuki Zo and Naga communities in Kangpokpi, Churachandpur and Chandel districts in the state to protest the killings.

The developments come amid tensions between Kukis and Nagas in Ukhrul that had erupted on February 7 after an alleged assault involving members of the Tangkhul Naga and the Kuki-Zo communities escalated into clashes.

Killing of the church leaders

The Kuki Inpi had identified the three church leaders killed on Wednesday as Reverend V Sitlhou, Reverend Kaigoulen and Pastor Paogoulen. They were part of the Thadou Baptist Association and were travelling back after a meeting of church leaders in Churachandpur.

Sitlhou had earlier served as the general secretary of the Manipur Baptist Convention.

“He had recently initiated a reconciliation meeting between Kukis and Nagas in Kohima, because of the current tensions between the two communities,” Thangtinlen Haokip, a leader of the Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

At the meeting in Churchandpur, Christian leaders from both communities had held discussions on peaceful coexistence, restraint and dialogue as the pathway to easing tensions between the groups, stated the Kuki Inpi Manipur.

The fresh violence comes in the backdrop of the ethnic clashes that broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in the state 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.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.