Bid to lay another ambush on Kukis fails; one among Arambai Tenggol intruders killed

The Meitei militants' bid to lay another ambush on Kukis by intruding the Kukis' land of Nakhujang village was foiled by the tribal village volunteers on Saturday, resulting in killing one of the cadres of Arambai Tenggol, a private militia group of the Meiteis.

The incident happened at around 3:30 AM in the morning when the Kuki village volunteers conducted patrolling in and around the village jurisdictional areas wherein they encountered the militant group of Arambai Tenggol invading Nakhujang village of Kangpokpi district. As per sources, the Meitei armed goons had been there in the jungle for about two days then. A fierce gunfight thus ensued for about an hour.

Nakhujang village is situated just near Singda dam and the villagers have abandoned the village after the outbreak of the ongoing violence. A Meitei village called Kandangband, Imphal West, is also located adjacent to Nakhujang village and the two villages are separated by a road.

The deceased cadre of the Arambai Tenggol has been identified as Jamesbond Ningomba, about 35 years old, from Mayang Langjing, Imphal West district. It is said that he was also a formal staff of "Naharolgi Thoudang" newspaper based in Imphal.

After the death of Jamesbond, cadres of Arambai Tenggol and the locals held a public meeting, indicative of retaliatory action. One social media user posted the video of the meeting with a caption (in Manipuri), "Arambai gi echa Jamesbond leikhidabagi mayanglangjing da meeting pangthokli," which roughly translates (in English) as, "A meeting is held at Mayang Langjing in connection with the demise of Arambai Tenggol member."

Valley based media houses and many social media users have been claiming that Jamesbond was killed after Kuki militants opened fire at Kadangband part 2 under Imphal West district, which is false and baseless. As per video circulating on social media, blood stains which is believed to be that of the deceased was seen in the ground covered with dry pine leaves and twigs which is in a jungle/forest of Kuki village Nakhujang.

When The Hills Journal contacted villagers of Nakhujang, they said that the blood stains seen in forest could be an indication that Jamesbond was shot or even killed in the forest of Nakhujang village and not Kadangband as claimed by the Meiteis. They asserted that there are no pine trees growing in Kadangband and the pine tress are found only at the hills in Nakhujang village.

Days before the incident, Jamesbond was seen mocking the Kuki community on his personal facebook account. Using dry twigs he made an object resembling dead body of human and posted the photo with a caption written in Manipuri, "Kukiland ywkhraba Thangboi", assuming that he had killed a Kuki man called Thangboi.

The caption can be roughly translated as, "Thangboi, you have reached Kukiland," indicating he has killed a Kuki man.

After hearing about the death of Jamesbond, the Meiteis' titular King and Rajya Sabha MP, Leisemba Sanajaoba also condoled the death of the militant on his social media account and promised that he would take revenge for the killing.