Naga council gives militants 48 hours to return severed head amid Manipur clashes

A Naga civil-society body, the Joint Tribes Council Manipur, issued a non-negotiable 48-hour ultimatum for the return of the severed head of 52-year-old Ajinbou R, whose headless corpse was recovered following a suspected militant strike on Makui Ashang village in Kangpokpi district. The body was taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal for post-mortem, but officials said the examination will be delayed until the head is returned for a proper burial.

The council held both state and central governments responsible for the latest surge of ethnic violence that has claimed at least nine lives in Kamjong, Ukhrul and Kangpokpi districts. The killings were triggered after a 22-year-old mother of five was shot in the Kuki-dominated Chassad village of Naga-majority Kamjong, sparking retaliatory fire between Kuki and Naga armed groups. Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh condemned the deaths and urged authorities to restore peace and protect citizens. Since February, more than 50 people have been killed and dozens of homes burned in the ongoing Kuki-Naga conflict, which follows earlier ethnic clashes that left over 300 dead.