GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — At least 17 people were killed and 30 injured in a powerful bomb blast near a police barracks in the northeast Indian city of Imphal, police said Wednesday.
The bomb, concealed inside a parked scooter, exploded near the compound of a police commando unit and a paramilitary complex in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, city police chief Radheshyam Singh told AFP.
"Eleven people died on the spot, while six of the injured succumbed to their injuries in different hospitals," Singh said. The explosion occurred at 7:45 pm on Tuesday (1415 GMT).
Doctors said three of the 30 injured were in a critical condition.
The blast came two days after a grenade attack outside the fortified home of Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. No one was injured in that explosion.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attack, but 19 rebel groups in Manipur are spearheading separate campaigns pressing for changes ranging from homelands for tribal groups to the repeal of anti-terror legislation.
Nearly all those killed in the blast were civilians. Many of them were part of a crowd watching a street gambling game when the bomb went off.
"Some of the bodies were charred beyond recognition," said one witness.
Indian troops and the police sealed off Imphal's road links with adjoining towns and launched a manhunt for the bombers, officials said.
Earlier this month, five people were injured in an explosion during a Hindu festival in Guwahati, the largest city in Assam state which adjoins Manipur.
At least 50,000 people have lost their lives in insurgency-driven violence in six of India's seven northeastern states since the country's independence from the British in 1947.
The militants say the northeast has been largely neglected by India's political leaders, accusing them of focusing only on the development of the country's relatively-wealthier eight northern states.
A steady infiltration of migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh is another major cause of friction between ethnic tribal groups and Muslim settlers from across the two nations' porous borders.
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