BSF dodges bomb attack

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- Dispur huddle to tackle rebel strikes
Security personnel guard the rail tracks at Diphu station in Karbi Anglong on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections
Nagaon/Guwahati, April 14 : Several BSF personnel had a narrow escape when a bomb planted by suspected KLNLF militants went off just after their vehicle passed Mandalgaon Dolamora in Karbi Anglong district today.
A wary Dispur went into a huddle with top army, police and administrative officials to come up with a solution to tackle the volatile situation in the two hill districts — Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills — which will go to the polls on April 16.
Today’s blast comes after the abortive attack on the Howrah-Dibrugarh Kamrup Express last night. The running of as many as 12 trains was disrupted, including Brahamputra Mail, Inter-City and Rajdhani Express before they resumed services around 11.40 this morning.
A remote-controlled bomb was planted under a road in a Karbi-dominated Mandalgaon Dolamora under in Bokajan subdivision. It was triggered moments after three vehicles of the 32 battalion of the BSF crossed the spot around 11.30am.
Santipur police said the BSF team was returning after inspecting the Mandalgaon polling station when the blast occurred. Nobody was injured. This is the third attack by the militant group in the run-up to elections.
A high-level meeting, chaired by chief secretary P.C. Sharma, was held here this evening to take stock of the situation arising out of the serial attacks on trains and the threat posed to polling officials in the wake of the 48-hour bandh called by the KLNLF from April 15. Besides the railways, officials of the army, BSF, CRPF, the home department and the police participated in the meeting.
Sources said two additional companies of security personnel were made available for security of tracks in North Cachar Hills where efforts are being made to run at least goods trains from tomorrow.
Eight companies, which were engaged in counter-insurgency operations, have been freed for election duty over and above the six companies deployed for the same purpose.
NF Railway CPRO S. Hajong said the Brahmaputra Mail, Kamrup Express and Rajdhani Express will run in a convoy from Lumding to Dimapur within 15 minutes of each other tonight. He said because of “unavoidable” circumstances, the timings of several trains have been rescheduled for tomorrow, including that of Jorhat Town Janasatabdi Express, Guwahati-Lumding passenger train, Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Dibrugarh-Howrah Kamrup Express, Dibrugarh-Delhi Brahmaputra Mail and the Dibrugarh-Amritsar Express. The Mariani-Jorhat Town Furkating passenger has been cancelled.
Going by the threat to polling personnel, the administration has decided to tighten security at vulnerable polling stations in Karbi Anglong. A fixed picket will comprise 10 to 20 security personnel.
Of the 768 polling stations in the constituency, 139 are in Haflong and the rest in Bokajan (138), Howraghat (121), Diphu (182) and Baithalangshu (188). Almost 40 per cent of polling stations in Karbi Anglong are said to be vulnerable.