IED FOUND NEAR NPP OFFICE IN SHILLONG AHEAD OF NAIDU’S EVENT

SHILLONG: A live bomb was detected at the entrance of Meghalaya’s ruling National Peoples Party office here on Monday, minutes before vice president M Vankaiah Naidu’s cavalcade was to pass by the area for an event, in Shillong’s Lower Lachuamiere area, police said. The two kg improvised explosive device was successfully defused by Meghalaya police, an official said.

Naidu was in the city to inaugurate a road project and to attend a conference of the North Eastern Council on the theme of “Changing Role of North-eastern Council in the Development of North-eastern Region.”

A suspicious-looking bag was first reportedly sighted at around 3:40 pm by passers-by near the NPP office. The presence of an unclaimed bag was reported by a passerby in the afternoon and a bomb squad was rushed to the spot which defused the explosive, police said.

Outlawed Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) later claimed responsibility of planting the bomb as a mark of protest against the killing of their leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew in an encounter in August.

In a Facebook post, HNLC general secretary Saiñkupar Nongtraw said the killing of Thangkhiew was a result of “political conspiracy” by ministers in the state and warned NPP leaders in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region of retaliation. It also sought the immediate resignation of the ministers from the party. The militant outfit had recently planted several IEDS and one of them went off behind a busy market in the heart of Shillong in August in which two people were injured.