GUWAHATI, India (UCAN) -- Suspected rebels shot dead two Salesian priests and a seminarian in northeastern India May 15 near the Manipur state capital of Imphal.

Armed men killed a novice master, another priest administrator and a seminarian assistant with machine guns, Imphal archdiocesan vicar general Father Dominic Lumon told UCA News May 16. The victims were members of the Dimapur Salesian province that covers Nagaland and Manipur states.

Church sources were unable to corroborate details as the novitiate that housed 27 novices has no telephone and the three superiors are all dead.

Imphal is some 2,445 kilometers east of New Delhi and the novitiate is at Ngarian Hills, 35 kilometers southeast of the city.

Father Lumon said that although no group has claimed responsibility for the crime, the incident has "spread fear and panic" in the region, and Christians in Manipur are now "living under a reign of terror."

He and Salesian Father Job Kallarackal of the provincial house said they suspected the involvement of outlawed militant groups who have demanded ransom from Church groups and others.

A May 16 statement from the archbishop's house quoted an eyewitness as saying two armed youths in combat uniform came to the novitiate at 6:45 p.m.

While one guarded the gate, another went to the servant quarters and asked a worker at gunpoint to lead him to the priests. The worker took him to administrator Father Andreas Kindo, 32, from whom the gunman demanded money.

The priest brought 30,000 rupees (US$641), but the intruder was not satisfied and asked for novice master Father Raphael Paliakara, who came and met with him on the volleyball court for about 45 minutes.

According to the statement, the worker heard Father Paliakara refuse the gunman's request for the priest to bring all the novices and line them up.

The gunman then shot Father Paliakara, and Father Kindo was shot when he tried to help his confrere. Hearing the commotion, assistant novice master Shinu Joseph, a seminarian, came out and was also shot. The attackers then escaped in a van, the Church statement said.

Father Kallarackal told UCA News the gunman had demanded that Naga tribal novices be separated from the others, which he added may have been intended to give the impression that the incident related to regionalism and not ransom.

News of the incident reached people outside after some novices walked five kilometers to the nearest parish church around midnight.

Father Lumon said the victims' bodies, which were riddled with bullets, underwent autopsy May 16 morning.

Following a requiem Mass May 16 at the Imphal cathedral, the funeral is to be held at 5 p.m. May 17 at the Salesian headquarters in Dimapur, some 220 kilometers north of Imphal.

The vicar general said Father Paliakara celebrated the silver jubilee of his profession May 12.

Father Kallarackal said the novitiate was preparing for the first profession of 12 novices on May 24. The Church plans to close all schools in the region for a day to protest the incident, according to Church sources.

Some 20 underground secessionist groups in Manipur fighting for tribal "self-determination" extort money from people for their struggle.

The Church in Manipur has faced tension since April 2000 when school officials resolved to refuse the militants' demands and face the consequences. Militants had demanded that each Catholic school pay 500,000 rupees.

On Feb. 2, Father Tommy Manjaly, principal of a Catholic School, was shot at in Imphal, but survived. This happened two months after militants shot dead Father Jacob Chittinapally, an assistant parish priest in the state capital.

In 1997 militants shot Salesian school principals Fathers Jose Nedumattathil and N.V. Joseph. Father Nedumattathil survived. In 1992 Father V.J. Sebastian was shot, but also survived.

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