AR man killed, another hurt in PLA's bomb attack
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, March 22 2013: In yet another bomb attack carried out by armed UG cadres against security personnel deployed in the State, an AR jawan was killed while another sustained serious injuries today.

The proscribed Revolutionary People's Front has claimed that the bomb attack was carried out by a Special War Group of its armed wing, People's Liberation Army (PLA) .

The incident occurred around 9:55 am today near Malom Lamkhai along Yairipok Chandrakhong Road under Yairipok Police Station.

The deceased AR jawan has been identified as one Mahender (40), a native of Uttarakhand and the injured as Pratap Tawang (32) hailing from Arunachal Pradesh.

Both belong to the post of 15 Assam Rifles stationed at Yairipok.

According to reports received by Hueiyen Lanpao, at around 7:30 am today two unidentified persons informed some women in Yairipok Malom Keithel that there is a bomb along the road.

The women immediately blocked the road and informed Yairipok Police about the bomb.

Soon after a team of Yairipok Police led by its SDPO Meghachandra along with a team of AR personnel came to the spot and conducted an extensive search of the bomb.

After the bomb was detected, the SDPO informed the Manipur Police to send bomb experts.

Police and Assam Rifles personnel inspecting the site of the bomb blast at Yairipok

While waiting for the arrival of the bomb disposal squad, another team of Assam Rifles personnel led by AS Kapoor, CO of 15 Assam Rifles post came to the spot.

A team of media persons had already arrived at the spot by then.

The bomb was found planted on the side of the road openly.

It was fitted in six pipes which were 1 feet long and 2 inches wide, all wrapped together.

On one end of the pipe, an aerial was seen sticking out.

Before the arrival of the bomb experts, at around 9:55am, two AR personnel, who were later identified as Mahender and Pratap Tawang, were seen going near the bomb.

Mahender was then seen taking out a camera and taking shots of the bomb.

All of a sudden, the bomb exploded.

The impact of the blast was so great that Mahender was seen flying upto 7 feet from the ground before falling down at a distance of 15 feet away from the blast site.

Pratap Tawang was also blew up in the air over a distance of 5 feet and fell down in the middle of the road.

The entire horrifying scenes were captured in the lenses of the present media persons, who were made to stand about 30 feet away from the blast area.

When the media persons rushed in to capture the shots of the injured AR personnel, they were not only blocked by an AR team but also snatched away their cameras only to be returned back after deleting all the images captured.

The media persons were further told to go away from the place.

Nonetheless, the media team saw the two AR personnel being taken in a special vehicle upto the playground of Chaoyaima Higher Secondary in Thoubal, from where they were airlifted in a chopper to the Military Hospital at Leimakhong.

Mahendra, however, reportedly succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital and the condition of Pratap Tawang is said to be serious.