Three dead after September 26 shooting at Manipur village chief’s residence

Three civilians have died and one remains injured after armed attackers opened fire at a village chief’s residence in Manipur on Saturday, September 26, 2026. The shooting was reported on September 27, but authorities place the attack itself on the previous afternoon.

The attack occurred at a house belonging to the chief of Kalenjang village, near Taphou in the Senapati area. Manipur’s chief minister’s office described the location as being in Senapati district. Accounts of the village’s precise administrative location have varied, with some placing it near the boundary with Kangpokpi district.

Two men died at the scene. They were identified as Rocky Mao, from the Chowainamei area, and Kumar Poumai, from Laii Shirafii village. Two other men sustained gunshot injuries and were taken for treatment in Senapati. One of them, 49-year-old Ashiho Sani, died early on Sunday, September 27. The other injured man, identified as 33-year-old Adani Manio, remained under treatment, according to officials.

The revised toll is significant: initial statements and reports counted two people killed and two injured. By Sunday, police officers had confirmed that Sani’s death raised the number killed to three, leaving one survivor with injuries.

What is known about the scene

Police said armed individuals attacked the residence on Saturday afternoon. Accounts differ slightly on the exact time, but place the firing between approximately 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Police and central security personnel went to the area after the shooting, and the injured were taken to hospital.

The house’s ownership is established in accounts of the incident, but that does not explain why the victims were there. The circumstances of their presence at the village chief’s residence remain unclear. Authorities have not publicly set out a verified account of what the four men were doing immediately before the attack, how the assailants reached the house, or whether anyone in the residence was singled out.

That distinction matters in reporting the location. A shooting at a Kuki village chief’s house does not, by itself, establish the attackers’ identity, the intended target or a motive. No group should be treated as responsible on the basis of the setting or the victims’ identities.

Investigation and official response

Police reached the scene and began investigating the shooting. As of September 27, authorities had not publicly identified the gunmen or announced a confirmed motive. There was no verified finding linking the attack to a particular organisation or community.

Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh condemned the killings. His office initially described the assailants as unidentified and confirmed that two people had been taken to hospital. That statement preceded the death of one of the injured men. Deputy Chief Minister Lossi Dikho subsequently named Rocky Mao, Kumar Poumai and Ashiho Sani as the three people killed, and Adani Manio as the injured survivor. He called for peace and an end to violence against civilians.

The All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, condemned the shooting and demanded an investigation and measures to protect civilians. Its claims about who carried out the attack have not been established by investigators. They are not a substitute for an official identification of suspects.

The killings came amid heightened concern about violence in Manipur’s hill districts, including a separate attack in Kamjong district days earlier that killed four civilians. The proximity of those events is part of the security context, not evidence that the same people carried them out.

For the Kalenjang case, the central questions remain unanswered: who fired on the people at the residence, why they did so, and what brought the victims there. Until investigators establish those facts, the confirmed account is that four civilians were shot on September 26, three died and one survived with injuries.