Powerful blast near a house in Manipur damages vehicles

Newmai News Network
Imphal | April 24

A powerful IED exploded near a house in Manipur’s Thoubal district on Saturday night, damaging vehicles parked near the house, police said. No human casualty was reported in the blast near the house belonging to a person of Waithou Bazar under Lilong police station of Thoubal district last night.

Sources said that the blast occurred near the house of one Ajit who is a retired Assam Rifles personnel. The impact of the explosion damaged two JCBs, a tipper truck and one Maruti car parked on the roadside along NH-102 (Imphal-Moreh highway). Police suspected the IED was planted on one of the JCBs.

While the police suspected that the bomb was planted by militants making monetary demands from Ajit, he said that he had not received monetary demand from any of the armed groups. He also said that the JCBs were bought with the monetary benefits he received after his retirement from service.

Meanwhile, condemning the blast at the residential area, womenfolk of Waithou Bazar area on Sunday staged a sit-in-protest. While strongly denouncing the blast, the protesters demanded booking of the culprit(s) while appealing to clarify if any of the armed outfits was behind the blast. The protest was staged under the aegis of Waithou Meira Paibi Lup. 

President of the body Bijaya Leima alleged that the blast has caused panic to the residents of the area and stressed that the perpetrator(s) should cite its reason for triggering the blast. If they fail to do so, they will launch various forms of protest, she added. At the same time, she also pressed the pertinent authorities of the state government to book the culprit(s) at the earliest.