GUWAHATI: The torture and killing of three Kuki villagers in the first such attack in Naga-dominant Ukhrul district since the ethnic strife in Manipur erupted in May prompted the insurgent outfit NSCN-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) to declare on Sunday that "Nagas don't want the sectarian violence spilling into their areas under any circumstance".Terming the act of targeting the Kuki trio "within the jurisdiction of Nagalim" an "unwarranted intrusion", the NSCN(IM) said the August 18 killings at Sipijang village near Thowai were the handiwork of the proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and a Naga outfit that it said "doesn't represent the community's interest and welfare".It said the Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front (MNRF) was being sponsored by the valley-based KYKL, an armed Meitei group.The allegation came a day after the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council named the two outfits as being involved in the Ukhrul killings, inviting an immediate rebuttal from KYKL.

The latter said it had "no connection, however remote, with the killing of three Kuki youths".KYKL also denied having any alliance with MNRF, "not even private friendships with its leaders and other members".

The Naga outfit separately contested any suggestion of its involvement in the Ukhrul killings as "unfounded".The Ukhrul victims, assigned to guard their village, had been asleep in their bunkers when a small group of heavily armed assailants stealthily entered the hamlet around 5am on Friday.

The manner of the intrusion and the attack that followed suggested the assailants were trained insurgents, sources in the security establishment said on Sunday.