Boy hurt in Ukhrul blast

Naga group claims hand, says part of ILP campaign

Tennoson Pheiray

UKHRUL | Jan 7

A teenaged boy was hurt when miscreant exploded a hand grenade inside a shop last evening at Ukhrul town.

The bomb explosion took place around 5:40 pm at a grocery store situated at the heart of Ukhrul Town at Phungreitang. The store is owned by Raj Kumar from Bihar.

The Volunteer of the Innocent People of Naga (VIPN) has claimed responsibility for the grenade attack.

According to Gopal Rizal, who is overseeing the store, informed that the blast happened when they were closing down the shop.

The injured boy has been identified as one Anish Kumar (16 years) s/o Amarnath from Rajepur, Motihari District, Bihar.

He revealed that the grenade hit him in the left arm while he was busy arranging the commodities in the store.

Anish further revealed that he mistook the grenade for a stone thrown by a passersby. But, after a few seconds there was a loud explosion and the store was filled with smoke, he added.

He was hit by bomb splinters on his right foot and rushed to Ukhrul district hospital.

Doctors informed that he suffered minor injuries and was later discharged after first aid.

The owner of the building AP Adis w/o (Lt) Augustine Awugshi Phungthar of Nungshong Khullen who stays in the first floor with their children recalled that there was a loud explosion followed by massive vibration.

She informed that they (store owner) have been staying in Ukhrul since 1994 and rented their ground floor building to Raj Kumar since 2015. There was no report of threat or demand to the house owner and shop owner.

According to a police officer, who was at the crime scene, informed that the impact could have been fatal had the grenade landed in open space.

He informed that the grenade fell between the sacks of atta, potato and tin of ghee which absorbed the blast impact.

It is worth mentioning that on December 22 last at around 5:45 pm a grenade was hurled inside a shop at Viewland, Ukhrul. Fortunately, the grenade did not explode.

The district has been facing acute shortage of police personnel. Adding to the woe, frequent transfer of police personnel after being posted at Ukhrul, the police department is facing problems in maintaining law and order.

The total sanction of Police personnel for Ukhrul District is around 1000. However, the actual force for the district is around 300 only informed a police officer under the condition of anonymity. Ukhrul PS and Reserved Line have one gypsy each to manned the district headquarter. There are around 40 police personnel in Ukhrul PS.

A statement issued by S. Shirat publicity secretary VIPN, said that the blast was part of Inner Line Permit (ILP) campaign in the district.

It asked all the non-local businessmen or shop owners to refrain from carrying out their business activities without registering to the VIPN.

It further warned the businessmen of dire consequences if they fail to get themselves registered to the VIPN at the earliest.