India, Oct. 21 -- A tense 48 hours in Manipur between Saturday and Monday has pulled in five of the northeastern state's communities into the spiralling violence that has killed 360 people over three years.

In these 48 hours, clashes broke out for the first time between Meitei Hindus and Meitei Pangals or Muslims, leading to a death and the burning of houses; three Meitei men were gunned down by militants, leading to the resurfacing of an ethnic hostility that first stoked the clashes in 2023; and tensions continued to simmer between the Kuki and Naga communities with one death and several injured, at least 50 houses burnt.

Security personnel described the last two days as a security nightmare because the latest chain of events opens a ...