Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

17 powerful bombs defused: Imphal, Dec. 12: Seventeen bombs were recovered from two busy Manipur roads during a search operation by security forces on Wednesday morning. The number is being pegged as the highest recovered by security forces in the militancy-ravaged state on a single day. The immediate spur of the search was the visit of the director general of Assam Rifles, Lt Gen. Paramjit Singh, to Manipur. Early this morning, troops of 34 Assam Rifles fanned out into Thoubal district for a routine search when they stumbled on three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted along the Imphal-Moreh road at Wangjing. The bomb squad of the police safely exploded the IEDs later in the day. The paramilitary force informed the police that they also recovered 14 IEDs laid by militants along Imphal-Ukhrul Road between Litan and Sangai and had destroyed them. Recovery of the explosives held up traffic for several hours on both the roads. “Had the IEDs exploded, they would have caused immense...

Villagers grateful for good road than anything else! Changjal (Chandel), Dec 6: Even if there was no problem in connection with the presence of UGs in their villages, proper repairing of the deplorable condition of the roads along with the arrival of the army is something that the people of villages seem to cherish the most. Talking to a team of mediapersons from Imphal who were facilitated to go by the IGAR (South) upto Tuitung along the New Samtal Road in Chandel district where army operation is underway to flush out militants, the villagers of the areas, which were earlier considered the stronghold of the UNLF said that there was no instances of torture and atrocity committed by the UNLF cadres while they staying in their villages. The Chief and the villagers of Selon village, where the UGs had even set up bunkers, said instead of harassing the villagers, the UGs brought food and other essential commodities for the people apart from taking care of their medical needs. As to the alle...