July 3: A businessman was killed and 17 others were injured in a grenade attack at a market in the heart of Haflong town this afternoon.
Of the 17 injured, the condition of 11 people was reported to be serious. They have been admitted to the Haflong civil hospital.
Deputy inspector-general (southern range) Mukesh Agarwal said it was too early to make a guess regarding the identity of those who had lobbed the grenade at around 2 pm. ?The attack is being investigated,? he said.
North Cachar Hills deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Bidyut Buragohain, however, disclosed that militants belonging to the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah were suspected to be behind the attack.
The 60-year-old businessman, Jagannath Prasad, died while being taken to hospital.
A caller, identifying himself as the ?area commander? of the DHD (Jewel), said the attack on a shop in the market was carried out to teach its owner a lesson.
The caller, Bihari Dimasa, said the businessman had been ?negligent? towards the DHD (J) but had helped its rival, the parent DHD, which is currently in a ceasefire with the government.
He, however, claimed the grenade had missed the ?target?.
?We had warned him to mend his ways earlier, but he did not listen to us,? he said. ?In fact, he even dared us (to attack him).?
Buragohain said the grenade fell and exploded on a group of vendors sitting in front of a mosque. Three of them are ?critical?.
However, despite claims that the blast was caused by a grenade, sources did not rule out the possibility of a bomb having been planted.
A source said there were reports that a woman brought something in a bag and placed it at the point where the explosion later occurred.
?We are verifying the claim. It could have been a bomb,? the source conceded.
The convoy of Karbi Anglong deputy commissioner Jatindra Nath Gogoi was also attacked last evening in the adjacent district.
Panic gripped the hilltop town as the police fanned out in all directions. The DC?s security guards opened fire on suspected militants of the Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front at Silvetta around 7 pm.
