Correspondent
IMPHAL, June 14
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t least two persons sustained injury when suspected militants exploded a powerful bomb suspected to be Improvised Explosive Device on Saturday. The incident took place near a Laundry house at Moirangkhong, about 1 km south of Imphal West district police headquarter in Manipur’s Imphal west district around 12.50 pm.
The blast damaged glass windowpane of one Alto Maruti car (MN01X 7567) parked near the explosion site besides shattering window panes of the nearby buildings. The owner of the laundry shop, Bijay Rajat (37) who hails from Bihar and presently staying here in a rented house, escaped unhurt. He was reportedly taking rest inside the shop when the explosion took place. The two injured civilian have been identified as one Bachaspatimayum Govind (74), son of late Mukta of Nagamapal Laimayum, Leirak and Phurailatpam Ibomcha (50), son of late Guruchandra of Moirangkhom.The injured civilians who were hit by the splitters of the bomb have been rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment. Th. Police team led by the district SP and officers in charge of the Commandoes rushed to the explosion site soon after the incident to take stock of the situation. No armed groups operating in the region claimed responsibility for the incident.
In another development, a hand grenade wrapped inside the stomach of a fish locally known as Sareng, was gifted to one District Supply Officer (DSO) Laitonjam Somorendro of the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department at his residence at Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal on Friday, a report available here said.
According to reports, three men came to the residence of the DSO on Saturday afternoon around 3 pm and delivered the fish weighing around 4 kgs wrapped in a polythene bag. However, Somorendro’s son detected the grenade as a hard substance from the stomach of the fish when he started to cut the fish into three pieces. Not suspecting that it could be a bomb, the family members at first assumed that fish mongers might have planted a stone inside the fish to inflate its weight. A team of Imphal East police soon arrived and identified the object as a Chinese made hand grenade and retrieved the same. Protesting yesterday’s incident, a sit-in protest was held on Saturday at Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal in Imphal East district. Members of the Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal Apunba Lup also took part in the sit-in by holding placards which read ‘Better to stop bomb culture’, ‘Bomb can’t bring peace in the state’, ‘It will bring a better for the society’.
