Triple bomb blasts rock Imphal area 6 including a minor girl injured [Hueiyen Lanpao]

Imphal, October 26: As the people of the state were engrossed in celebrating Diwali with lighting of lamps and bursting of crackers, a twin bomb blasts at Thangal bazar brought to a grinding halt the festivities and left four persons including a minor girl of 12 injured. 

In another bomb attack by unidentified armed persons at the residence of Chief Engineer, PWD Loken at Canchipur Heijigang under Singjamei Police Station at around 10.10 pm today, a personnel of 7 MR and the personal driver of the Chief Engineer sustained injuries.

The first bomb exploded at around 8pm this evening at Alu Gali in Thangal Bazar, at the entrance of Overseas Bank. The other bomb exploded a minute after the first explosion, around 100 feet away from the previous spot, in a shop.

The four persons who were injured in the bomb explosion have been identified as Manisha (12), d/o Dasharat of  Alu Gali, her brother Manish (16), Mohammud Mustakim (16), s/o  Jayauddin of Mashjid Road and Md Farukh (17), s/o Jakub of Lilong. Manisha was injured on the right leg with bomb splinters, her brother Manish was injured in the left hand, Mustakim in the right hand and leg and Md Farukh suffered a head injury.
According to police reports, the incident did not cause many casualties as the spot where the twin bombs exploded had no major celebration taking place and not many people had congregated there.

The first bomb which exploded at the entrance of Overseas Bank left the iron shutter of the bank partly torn apart. The impact of the explosion even reached the other side of the road and broke the doors and windows of shops on the ground floor of Chongtham Iboyaima Shopping Mall. There were also blood stains besides the shops and four persons were said to have been injured at the spot.

The second bomb exploded minutes after the first one, around 100 feet away from the previous spot, in a shop selling clothes. The shop was among other shops labeled as Robin Market.

Police sources said that the shop belongs to one Milan Biju (55). The shop had closed around 6pm this evening. The shutters of the shop were found metres away from the spot. A huge lot of goods and clothes are believed to have been destroyed by the blast, but the actual amount of the destroyed items could not be found out as the owner had not yet arrived at the spot. It is believed that no one was hurt in the second blast.
Bomb experts were of the opinion that the bombs which exploded were powerful ones. The second bomb was even more powerful than the first one. But police are yet to determine the device used to explode the bombs and also its components. It is suspected that the bombs could have been planted well before the blast.

As soon as the explosion occurred police rushed to the spot and carried out an intensive search. People were checked and all roads to and from the site of explosion was blocked. The light festival came to a halt and all shops were forced to close down. Burning of crackers was prohibited for the moment. No arrest related with the incident has been reported till the filling of this report.

All the injured in the Thangal bazar twin blasts are being treated at RIMS. Meanwhile, the bomb attack at the residence of Chief Engineer Loken was carried out taking advantage of a musical concert organised not far off in connection with Diwali festival.

The bomb landed and exploded just outside the residential gate. One Ngouba of Thoubal, a personnel of 7 MR, who is deployed as security escort of the Chief Engineer and O Johnson of Singjamei Kshetri Leikai, who is the personal driver of the Chief Engineer sustained injuries in the explosion. One of the injured has been reportedly admitted to RIMS while the other to Raj Polyclinic for treatment. Both the injured are said to be out of danger.

Source: Hueiyen Lanpao