24 hrs later, Manipur cops grope in the dark

Twenty-four hours after the IED explosion that killed seven passengers of a bus on Sunday...

Twenty-four hours after the IED explosion that killed seven passengers of a bus on Sunday, the state police are still clueless about the perpetrators, and have practically no leads to work on. However, Manipur’s Director General of Police Y Joykumar said that the IED was remote-controlled and deliberately detonated as the passenger bus passed by.

Pointing to the circumstances, he added that a passenger bus did not look anything like a security forces vehicle and the security forces always moved in a convoy of at least three to four vehicles. Meanwhile, the banned UNLF has denied any hand in the blast, but no other group has claimed responsibility for the same.

A red alert has been sounded and a search operation is on to trace the culprits. “The technology involved in setting up and detonating the IED is limited to only a few groups. We haven’t managed to make any sketches, as there were no eyewitnesses.” Intelligence sources, on the other hand, pointed fingers at the banned People’s Liberation Army.

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In Pourabi village — where a Joint Action Committee has been formed to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister — residents said that they had spotted a Maruti van parked at the blast site less than 48 hours prior to the incident. “There were some men on the roadside, next to the parked van talking on a mobilephone. After the blast, we found a pack of playing cards in the fields adjoining the road, around two km away. There were also wires leading from the bomb crater. We can’t say for sure whether they were the perpetrators, but they weren’t from our village or the neighbouring ones,” they said.

Ranjit, a resident, said none of the villagers ventured out for nearly half-an-hour following the blast, fearing it to be an encounter between terrorists and security forces. “When we did come out, we saw the badly damaged bus and passengers lying all around, some dead, many injured, dazed and scared,” he said.

Patil condemns blast, seeks report.

The Union Home Ministry on Monday sought a report from the Manipur Government on the bomb blast near Imphal in which seven persons were killed. A ministry spokesperson said that the situation in Manipur is under “regular review” of the ministry and a report has been sought from the state Government on Sunday’s blast. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, while strongly condemning the bomb blast, said “such desperate acts by anti-national elements will not help them in any manner and will only isolate them further.”

Patil conveyed his sympathies to the next of kin of those killed in Sunday’s explosion and also prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured. The Home Minister said in a statement that he was confident of the state government taking all steps to avoid recurrence of such incidents and bringing the culprits to book.