Death toll rises to 2 in Meghalaya's triple blast

Shillong, Jun 25 (UNI) The death toll in the Friday night triple grenade explosions in three districts of Meghalaya rose to two today.

Miksadul Alam (18), a labourer from Asom's Dhubri district, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Guwahati today. He had received several head injuries.

Another constable, who met the same fate as Alam, had also been shifted to a private hospital in Guwahati for an operation. A piece of shrapnel from the grenade blast had hit him on his head.

The Liberation of A'chik Elite Force (LAEF) militant outfit had claimed the responsibility for triggering the grenade explosions at Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills, Mendipathar in East Garo Hills and Nangalbibra in South Garo Hills districts on Friday, June 22.

Security had been tightened up in these areas, police said.

''We have got leads and we are already on the job to crackdown those militants involved in the blasts,'' Police Western Range Deputy Inspector General F D Sangma told UNI here over the phone from Garo Hills.

Chief Minister D D Lapang had condemned the incident and appealed to the public to maintain peace and tranquility.

State Chief Secretary Ranjan Chatterjee and Director General of Police B K Dey Sawian is expected to leave Shillong today for Garo Hills to review the overall law-and-order situation with Deputy Commissioners of the three districts.

Condemning the acts of the LAEF, Governor B L Joshi said ''Such acts of cowardice can only be committed by anti-socials who lack all human considerations and are a matter of concern.'' The LAEF, a tribal Garo militant outfit, was formed on August 19, 2003 to fight for an ''independent Garo state or A'chik state'' in Meghalaya. The nascent militant group, headed by a former Meghalaya police constable, Peter Marak is suspected of linkages with the National Socialist Council of Nagalim-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM).

UNI