A day after the first-ever serial blasts rocked Agartala, the capital city of insurgency-hit Tripura, the state government confirmed that the pattern of the blasts had “some similarities” with the recent serial explosions that took place in other parts of the country in respect of the use of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in the explosive devices.
Tripura Police Director-General Pranay Sahay though refused to point a finger at HuJI or any other Islamic terrorists’ outfit in triggering the blasts saying it was premature to name any outfit as investigations were underway, did not rule out the possibility of involvement of elements from across Bangladesh border.
“There are some similarities in the pattern of blasts to that had
earlier taken place in other parts of the country as initial chemical tests of ingredients have confirmed the presence of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (furnace oil or transformer oil) in explosive devices,” Sahay said.
He also said there could be cross-border movement of terrorist elements as Bangladeshis had been on and off detained in Tripura. “Moreover, there are around 25 camps of Tripura militant groups in Bangladesh and the Intelligence Bureau has been informed about it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police has been entrusted with the blasts’ probe. A two-member team of the National Security Guards (NSG), headed by Major Karambhir and another team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) from Kolkata arrived in Agartala today to assist the Tripura Police in conducting investigations into the serial blasts that had put the border state on country’s new terror map.
The police so far has picked up six persons for interrogation in connection with the blasts even as the police called upon people not to panic as the “situation was now under control”.
Additional personnel of the Assam Rifles and the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) were deployed in the capital city as the DGP said close-circuit televisions (CCTVs) would be installed at vulnerable spots in the city during the forthcoming Durga Puja.
The state government has announced Rs 5,000 as initial assistance for each injured in the blasts, besides giving the assurance of a rehabilitation grant to those breadwinners who had been affected physically and economically by the blasts.
The police has so far registered five cases.The police chief said he would look for assistance in respect of information sharing and technical support for counterparts in other blasts-affected states in the country.
