Imphal, Dec. 23: Suspected Kuki militants today took 28 passengers of two busses hostage, including students and a schoolteacher in Manipur.

However, the armed militants freed all the hostages after keeping them captive for nearly three hours. All the students reached Imphal this evening while the other passengers left Senapati for Guwahati.

The passengers said two groups of armed militants suspected to be Kukis stopped two Guwahati-bound buses at Bungmol and Keithelmanbi under Kangpokpi police station in Senapati district around 1 this afternoon.

One of the buses that stopped at Bungmol was carrying 23 students, including 11 girls and two teachers of Hundred Flower School of Imphal and other passengers bound for Guwahati. The students were on a study tour to Sikkim. The bus left Imphal this morning.

Another group of militants stopped the second bus at Keithelmanbi around the same time. The militants reportedly forced the drivers to take the buses up the nearby hills separately. After reaching the hilltop, the militants asked all the passengers belonging to a particular community to step forward.

“Four militants took the bus along with the passengers up the hill. They then separated the passengers from the rest of us. They kept a teacher, 10 students and another passenger hostage while our bus was released along with the other students and passengers,” Md. Abdul, one of the students, said.

The militants, who detained 16 passengers from the second bus, told the hostages that they were being taken hostage as another militant group captured three of their colleagues last night.

“They told us that we would die if their comrades were killed and released if they were freed,” another student said.

The bus carrying students returned to Imphal while the other bus stopped at Keithelmanbi. The passengers informed the incident to the police and the school in Imphal.

The second bus headed for Guwahati after the 16 passengers were released.