After ambushes, CRPF tells forces in Manipur to use armoured vehicles, avoid sudden deployment

In the wake of two ambushes on Assam Rifles personnel in Manipur and Nagaland, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units deployed in Manipur have been instructed to use only armoured vehicles for movement and to avoid sudden or unplanned deployments, a senior government official said on Thursday (July 16, 2026).

In June, the CRPF inducted two battalions of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), a specialised unit raised for anti-Maoist operations, in the northeastern State to step up operations against armed groups, dismantling of bunkers, and recovery of weapons.

At least 100 armoured vehicles have been sent to Manipur in the past two months, the official said.

The CRPF is the largest Central security force deployed in Manipur, with 200 companies comprising around 20,000 personnel. In addition to the CRPF, the State has around 100 Border Security Force companies, comprising approximately 10,000 personnel, and about 26,000 personnel from the Assam Rifles and the Indian Army deployed across the region.

The CoBRA battalions have been given pre-induction training in crowd management as the State often witnesses obstruction by locals, especially women, during security-related operations.

“We have advised the personnel to avoid any sudden movement for administrative or operational reasons. They have also been asked to take action against armed miscreants, anyone found with a gun is to be arrested or fired upon, if they do not surrender,” said the official.

As the ethnic conflict between the Kuki and Meitei people in Manipur has now expanded to tensions between Kukis and the Naga people, plans are afoot to deploy the CoBRA battalions in the hill districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Ukhrul, another government official said. While Churachandpur and Kangpokpi are Kuki-Zo-dominated districts, Ukhrul is a Naga-majority area.

It was at Litan in Ukhrul on February 7 that tensions between the two communities escalated, said the official.

After President’s Rule was revoked in Manipur on February 4, Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, representing the Meitei community, and two Deputy Chief Ministers – Nemcha Kipgen and Losii Dikho from the Kuki-Zo and the Naga community respectively – were sworn-in. Ms. Kipgen’s appointment was protested by members of her community who opposed her decision to join the government till justice was delivered to their people.

“The Kuki groups in Ukhrul announced a shutdown after Ms. Kipgen took oath and put up pickets to enforce the blockade. On February 7, at one such picket, some Kuki men flashed a torchlight in the face of a Naga youth who was passing by. Since all the men were drunk, it led to a brawl, which has now turned into severe tensions between the communities, involving killings, abductions and blockade of highways to cut off supplies of essentials and food to Kuki areas,” said the official.

The ethnic violence, which erupted on May 3, 2023, has claimed the lives of 300 people so far. Hundreds were killed in the wake of the Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s.