A high-intensity bomb went off at a border outpost along the Assam-Mizoram border, adding to the tension between the two states against the backdrop of the July 26 violence that left six Assam police personnel dead.
The blast took place in Hailakandi district of southern Assam. Assam Police said an Indian Reserve Battalion Force personnel of Mizoram police was arrested from the area with cordex wire that is used to detonate bombs remotely.
"In the dark hours, at around 1:45 am it was reported that there was a high explosive blast using detonating cord near Baicherra BOP under Ramnathpur PS, done by some Mizo miscreants," an Assam Police officer told NDTV.
Police said the arrested personnel has been identified as Laldintluanga, 23, a resident of Bairabi in Mizoram's Kolasib that shares the border with Assam's Cachar and Hailakandi districts.
"He was arrested and forwarded to judicial custody," said Hailakandi police superintendent Gaurav Upadhyay, adding that police are investigating the matter.
The Bairabi branch of student outfit Mizo Zirlai Pawl issued a notification that if the arrested personnel is not released by 4 pm today, they will stop all vehicles from Assam from entering Zophai in Bairabi. "Police personnel have waited at Ramnatpur Police Station the whole night but have failed to take him back," said the organisation.
Three districts of the Barak Valley region in Assam -- Hailakandi, Karimganj and Cachar -- share a 165-km border with Mizoram. There are border disputes between the two states at at least five points.
In the latest flare-up to the border row on July 26, six Assam Police personnel were killed and over 50 injured. Assam Police had alleged that people from the Mizoram side threw stones and attacked them. The Mizoram government, on the other hand, said the state police responded after Assam Police officers "forcibly crossed" a post manned by the Central Reserve Police Force.
It was only after the centre stepped in that the tension between the two states was contained.
