IMPHAL: An improvised explosive device (IED) was reportedly planted outside the gate of an oil pump at Wabagai Lamkhai in the Kakching district of Manipur by suspected insurgent cadres Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, a bomb disposal team was dispatched to the area, and the IED was safely defused, according to police statements on Friday.
A joint police and Assam Rifles team discovered the explosive device on Thursday around 9 a.m. in the Wabagai Lamkhai section of the Waikhong police station, according to the police.
The bomb was discovered as a result of a tip from Yumnam Romen of Wabagai Lamkhai, around 45 km from Imphal, that a possible bomb has been discovered next to the gate of his oil pump at around 9 a.m. on Thursday. Traffic was stopped and public movement was limited shortly after the IED was discovered.
The bomb was defused after around five hours of work by the Manipur police bomb detection and disposal squad, who were on the scene immediately.
The police said that by promptly eliminating the IED that the militants had planted, police and security personnel had prevented a significant terror plot. No underground organisation has thus far taken credit for the deed.
The oil pump owner's financial demands are what would have led to the device being planted.
The police reported that after the area had been cleared, traffic on the state highway, which had been temporarily stopped, had resumed. According to the authorities, a case was registered in this regard at the Waikhong police station.
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