Four blasts rock TN
Four minor explosions rocked Tamil Nadu on Sunday-Monday, injuring at least a dozen people and causing some damage to property.
The militant Tamil Liberation Army set off two explosions
in Madras early on Monday --- one at the state Election
Commission office and the other at the Russian Cultural Centre.
Two other explosions occurred in Rajapalayam in
Virudhunagar district on Sunday night, injuring at least 10 people,
including local Tamil Maanila Congress president Beemaraja and
district secretary Ramachandran.
A guard posted at the Russian centre sustained minor
injuries while a truck cleaner was injured in the blast at the Election Commission
Office.
The impact of the blast at the Russian centre,
which occurred at 0345 hours, shattered glasspanes
in the library hall and on the first floor of the building.
In the blast at the Election Commission office, which
was set off at 0415 hours, a car was badly damaged
while the cleaner sleeping in a
truck parked nearby sustained minor injuries.
Madras Police Commissioner V K Rajagopalan told the media
that timing devices could have detonated the bombs.
Handbills of the TLA, denouncing the golden jubilee celebrations
of the country's Independence, were recovered from both sites,
the police added.
The handbills also castigated the government for inviting
multinationals to start business ventures in the country
and burdening the people by over-borrowing from the World
Bank and other international financial institutions, Rajagopalan said.
A Madurai report, quoting Deputy Inspector General of Police M Ganesan, said
a portion of the wall of a hospital was damaged in the first blast at Rajapalayam.
The TMC officials, who rushed out of their office on hearing
the blast, were injured in the second explosion near an automobile
workshop. Some workshop employees were also injured.
Rajapalayam, which witnessed sporadic caste clashes
recently, had been calm for the past few days.
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi says his government will thwart
any attempt by extremist organisations to create chaos during
the golden jubilee celebrations.
Quoting reports by the police, he said some groups including the TLA, whose leader Elavarasan was arrested recently, proposed
to indulge in violence this week.
UNI
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