Overview
- Armed attackers ambushed two vehicles at Zero Point on May 13, killing three members of the Thadou Baptist Association and injuring four others as they returned from a religious meeting.
- Local police at New Keithelmanbi station registered the case the day of the attack and the NIA re-registered it at its Imphal unit on June 8 following a Home Ministry order.
- Officials said the NIA formally began its investigation after the Ministry of Home Affairs said the case had national ramifications and needed inquiry into a larger conspiracy.
- The killings have already triggered a hostage crisis and renewed ethnic tensions between Kuki and Naga communities in the hill areas of Manipur.
- The probe comes against an ongoing cycle of ethnic violence since May 2023 that has killed more than 260 people and displaced over 62,000, and it could lead to wider arrests or security operations if the NIA finds links to organised groups.