The blast site wore a blood cuddling scene straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
This was the second explosion in Imphal in less than 20 hours, the last occurring on Sunday evening.
Official sources in Imphal said the explosive device was planted in a scooter that was parked just outside a barber’s shop in the Sangaakthan locality of the capital city in Imphal East district. Two barbers, both from Bihar, were also killed. The police suspected it to be an improvised explosive device.
As the incident occurred close to a school, two girl students who were walking home after school was over were also killed. A fifth person who was killed in the blast was yet to be identified till late in the evening. At least seven persons who sustained severe injuries in the explosion have been admitted to a government hospital in the city. A bomb hurled at a group of people in the Chingmeirong locality of the city on Sunday night did not explode. It was in the same locality that three persons were killed in a similar explosion in May this year. Three women on the other hand had sustained severe injuries in a car blast in the Manipur capital.
The chief minster also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 75, 000 to the permanently disabled, Rs 50, 000 to seriously injured and Rs 10, 000 to victims with minor injury, in addition to providing them free treatment by the government.