Members of the bomb squad examine a hand grenade found at the entrance of a newspaper office in Imphal on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

Imphal, Jan. 2: Police were called in at the office of a vernacular daily after an employee found a gift box at the entrance to the building at 5 this morning.

The bomb squad of the police arrived at the office of Naharolgi Thoudang at Keishampat, opened the box to find a hand grenade along with a note from the militant outfit — Kangleipak Communist Party (Lanchen Chanu) — saying: “It is a last warning and next time they will explode a bomb.”

The police said it was a Chinese hand grenade and it was safely exploded in the Lamphel area of Imphal West later today.

The police believed the grenade was left there last night. All the media houses were closed yesterday as New Year’s day was a holiday.

An army patrol team with a dog squad also arrived at the office after the grenade was recovered.

Following the recovery of the grenade, the editor of the daily, Khoirom Loyalakpa, and other employees arrived at the office and reported the matter to the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union.

Loyalakpa said the grenade planted in his office by the militant group was a threat to all journalists and not to those working with Naharolgi Thoudang alone.

The union believed the militant group left the grenade as a threat to mediapersons after the newspapers in the city did not publish a statement issued earlier by the militant group.

Later, editors and office bearers of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union in a joint meeting condemned the threat to mediahouses and journalists.

The meeting demanded adequate security for the media offices and the office complex of the Manipur Press Club located in Imphal city.

This is the second time a militant group planted a grenade in a newspaper office in Imphal. Earlier on July 1, 2007, a militant group delivered a bomb at the office of Sangai Express.

Reporters have decided to protest against the threat.