IMPHAL: Suspected cadres of an insurgent outfit planted an improvised explosive device (IED) near the gate of an oil pump at Wabagai Lamkhai in Manipur‘s Kakching district, an official source said on Friday.
A bomb disposal squad was rushed to the spot and defused the IED without causing any harm on Thursday afternoon, the police said on Friday.
The explosive device was detected by a joint team of police and Assam Rifles in the Wabagai Lamkhai area of the Waikhong police station at around 9 am on Thursday, the police stated.
The bomb was detected following a piece of information passed by one Yumnam Romen from Wabagai Lamkhai, about 45 km from Imphal that one suspected bomb was found near the gate of his Oil Pump at around 9 am on Thursday, the police noted.
Soon after the detection of the IED, traffic was halted and the movement of people was restricted. Manipur police bomb detection and disposal squad rushed to the spot immediately and the bomb was defused after about five hours of working. Thus, police and security forces in a swift operation averted a major terror plot by timely neutralizing the IED planted by the insurgents, the police claimed.
However, no underground group claims responsibility for the action so far. The cause of the planting of the bomb would be the monetary demands of the owner of the Oil pump. But the Oil Pump owner is not available for comment at the time of filing this news story, the police said.
The traffic, which was halted on the state highway briefly, was resumed after the area was thoroughly sanitized, the police stated.
Waikhong police station registered a case in this connection, the police added.