Manipur ultras using Chi-made bombs

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

IMPHAL, March 13: Some unidentified persons have been using Chi made hand gredes like roadside pebbles to browbeat some persons and at the same time as their visiting cards. Virtually not a single day passes without some blasts, planting and hurling of the same although some of them failed to explode. There had been casualties in the past.

These foreign made gredes are smuggled from the intertiol gun runners from Moreh in Manipur and mphalong in Myanmar. These are stuffed inside fish cans, pumpkins and other vegetables which are brought from mphalong. Police and security personnel along the 109 km long NH 102 from Moreh to Imphal generally failed such hidden explosives and hand guns during their manual searches. Sources said that only some explosives and hand guns are brought through the highway. However the bulk is brought through the mountain bridle paths.

It is no wonder that there had been explosions almost everyday. What is worrisome is that there had been explosions in the crowded places.

Though the primary target was the migrant workers who deal in consumers items banned by the insurgents there had been other casualties. On Wednesday night there was a big explosion near the sheds where Manipuri Muslims sell chickens and ducks. Three persons were killed on the spot. Just one of the victims was a migrant worker. There has been no claim from any outfit. In his usual manner the home minister described it as a brutal actions and promised to bring the culprits to book. But people have not forgotten that he has failed to punish anybody in the past. Since no bomber had been pulled up in the past they get emboldened. It is also a foregone conclusion that the bombers in the latest blast will not be accounted for and there will be more blasts.