7 Bombs Defused In Manipur's Imphal East District By Joint Army, Police Team

The army and the Manipur Police averted a tragedy by defusing at least eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Imphal East district on Saturday, the defence spokesperson for Manipur, Nagaland and South Arunachal said in a statement.

An army column received intelligence reports that warned of the hidden IEDs, after which a bomb-disposal team went to the area and defused all the IEDs weighing 33 kg, the spokesperson said, adding the swift response averted major attacks on the security forces and commuters.

"In a swift and decisive joint operation, the Indian Army in collaboration with the Manipur Police successfully detected and defused eight IEDs in Saichang Itham area of Imphal East district, averting a major tragedy in the region," the spokesperson said in the statement.

The army said the area - Moirangpurel and Itham villages - where they found the IEDs are where farmers and cattle-grazers work. "The recovery has given a severe blow to the nefarious design of inimical elements planning to undertake subversive activities in the region," the statement said.

On Wednesday too, the army and the police in a joint operation recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition in Imphal East District, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said. After getting intelligence reports, the joint team launched an extensive search operation from Kangpokpi and Imphal East districts.

The 72-hour-long operation deployed patrol dogs and explosive detection dogs due to the complexity of the terrain, the spokesperson said. The operation resulted in the recovery of a large number of arms and ammunition, including 13 long-range mortars, four Burmese 'iron rod' (crude mortar), an IED, and one modified grenade launcher.

Peace has been elusive in Manipur for over a year since ethnic violence broke out between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur. The violence has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kuki tribes who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administrative carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.