SOBHAPATI SAMOM
IMPHAL, Jan 26 Three BSF personnel were hurt in a militant strike in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Saturday evening.
The incident took place when two motorcycle borne suspected militants fired at the the Ethai barrage post of 193 BSF,4 km east of Kumbi police station under Bishnupur around 5.30 pm.
The BSF men retaliated but the militants managed to escape. Police said the injured BSF personnel have been admitted at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences hospital for medical aid.
BSF authorities have however not provided the details of the incident. Besides none of the militant organization operating in the state claimed their responsibility for the attack till the filing of this report.
The banned Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF), an umbrella organization of major militants organizations in the region had announced to boycott the Republic Day celebration by calling a 17 hour general strike on January 26.
The Front's Convenor in a press release said,a joint statement of MPLF, KLO, TPDF and ULFA has already announced that like in the past years, this year also the celebration of India's Republic Day would be boycotted.
The release further appealed to the people not to venture out in the streets, to stop plying of all kinds of vehicles, to cease all activities of trade and commerce, to close cinema halls, stop all kinds of entertainment programmes and cancel all Imphal bound flights of all airlines.