Bomb blast kills 14 in Imphal

By Biswajyoti Das

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - At least 14 people were killed and nearly 40 wounded when a powerful bomb exploded on Tuesday in Manipur, police said.

The device, thought to have been hidden in a bicycle near a high security police commando training centre in Imphal, killed two people on the spot.

"We are yet to identify the dead and are not sure if any policemen were among those killed," Radheshyam, a senior police officer, who goes by one name said in Imphal.

Police officers present at the spot said severed limbs and body parts were scattered outside the police training facility.

Security forces cordoned off the area and bomb experts picked up broken pieces of metal for examination, while policemen tried to keep curious locals away, police said.

Tuesday's bomb attack was the most lethal in recent times in Imphal. Rebels frequently target heavily guarded residential areas of ministers and senior officials with bomb or grenade attacks, police officer Radheshyam said.

"The blast has caused panic in the city and for the first time there have been so many civilian casualties," Prem Singh, a local resident told Reuters by telephone.

No separatist group has claimed responsibility for the blast but police suspect the separatist People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) carried out the attack.

On Sunday, a grenade exploded close to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh's heavily fortified residence but there were no casualties.

A spokesman for PREPAK, which last month fired a shell at Singh's fortified house, on Tuesday said the group was responsible for Sunday's attack.

India's northeast, comprising eight states, has seen separatist and tribal insurgencies for the past 60 years. Militant groups accuse New Delhi of plundering the region's mineral and forest resources but investing little in return.

The region is home to more than 200 tribes and ethnic groups.