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Manipur

Security Forces Avert Major Clash After Houses Torched in Imphal West

By Sentinel NE Desk · July 13, 2026 · 2 min read
Photo: Meghroddur / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Fresh tension gripped Manipur’s Imphal West district on July 11 after suspected miscreants torched several abandoned houses belonging to Meitei residents in the Kanto Sabal area, prompting a crowd of nearly 600 people to try to march on the site before security forces intervened and prevented what officials described as a potential major communal clash.

According to police accounts carried by multiple outlets, the houses — vacant since ethnic violence first erupted in Manipur in May 2023 — were set alight by a group that local residents said had come from the adjoining, Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district. Two people were arrested in connection with the arson, including Kammang Lhouvum, described as chief of Hengjang village and chairman of the Leimakhong Area Protection Committee.

Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh condemned the incident in a statement from his office, calling it an attempt to derail ongoing peace efforts and noting that it came after a period of relative calm in the state. He said state police and Central Armed Police Forces had been deployed to the area and instructed to prevent a recurrence.

A senior police official said that as news of the fire spread, hundreds of people from the Meitei and Naga communities converged near Kanto Sabal, some reportedly to help put out the blaze. Security forces used tear gas to disperse the gathering crowd and blocked its advance toward the affected area, averting a larger confrontation. No casualties were reported.

Kanto Sabal sits on the fringe of the Imphal Valley, directly adjoining Kangpokpi district, making it one of the more sensitive flashpoints along the buffer areas that have separated Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since 2023. Local residents quoted in press accounts alleged that security forces failed to prevent the arson despite a presence in the area, a claim authorities did not directly address.

A case has been registered and investigation is underway. Security forces remain on heightened deployment in the area. Sentinel NE Desk will update this piece as further details, including any additional arrests, become available.

Compiled from reporting by Social News XYZ (IANS), Sentinel Assam, Republic World, and India Today NE Sentinel NE Desk cross-checked these accounts, all citing police and the Chief Minister’s Office, before publication. Photo: Imphal Valley, Manipur — Haoreima / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), used for general context; no image from the incident itself has been used or rehosted.

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