Imphal, January 20: Some unidentified persons suspected to be member of a underground group burnt down the office of a club at Thangmeiband near THAU ground which was once occupied by the Samata Party, Manipur early this morning under Lamphel police station.

According to reliable source, this early morning around 3.30 am some unidentified persons suspected to be UGs sprayed inflammable oil throughout the building, located near THAU ground and set it on fire.

Local residents noticed the fire and called the fire brigade, but before it could be controlled the fire had spread to an adjacent grocery shop owned by one Mutum Nimaichand Singh of Thangmeiband and caused damage of shop materials worth more than Rs 50,000.The source further said that, furniture and other club property were also damaged by the fire but the fire brigade managed to bring the fire under control.

The police have registered a case in this connection.

In yet another incident, a jeep, bearing registration No MNP 2426 which was used for election campaign by Federal Party candidate of Uripok AC was hijacked and burnt by some unidentified persons suspected to be UGs this afternoon.

Official source said the said jeep was reportedly hijacked from the workers of P Achou Singh, the FPM candidate of Uripok A/c this afternoon by some unidentified gunmen near Lamphel SanaKeithel and taken away towards Langol Game Village and burned down there.

When the fire brigade rushed to the spot they found the hijacked jeep to be completely burned.

The fire brigade also found that some portion of the ground near the jeep bore blood stains and that the oil tank of the Jeep also had some bullet holes.

The police is surmising that the hijackers might have assaulted some persons there, and abandoned the jeep after setting fire to it.

An IANS report adds that troops have been put on alert in Manipur with separatists attacking politicians ahead of next month's assembly elections.

"The attacks are part of a campaign by militants in the run up to the polls to put pressure on politicians to make money and dictate terms," Manipur police chief AA Siddiqui told LANS on telephone from state capital Imphal.