At least five people died in a bomb blast Monday in a market place in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur, which has been plagued for decades by separatist militants, police said. Twenty others were injured in the explosion, which took place on the outskirts of state capital Imphal. "The bomb was probably planted on a parked scooter and was of high intensity," Manipur police chief Y. Joykumar Singh told AFP by telephone.
"So far five people have been killed and about 20 injured. The injured have been shifted to local hospitals with multiple wounds." The remote state bordering Myanmar has long been affected by insurgent violence and is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi and often compete against each other. The market was teeming with people when the explosion happened and most of the victims were either shoppers or vendors, Singh said. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.