A high-intensity bomb was detonated early on Saturday near an Assam Police border outpost in Hailakandi district along the border with Mizoram, triggering a fresh tension between the two states, officials said.
As the massive explosion occurred in the early hours and on vacant land, no one was injured and no property was damaged.
Assam Police officials said that a Mizoram security personnel, who was wandering around the blast site at Baicherra, was arrested along with cordex wire that is used to remotely detonate the powerful bombs.
A police official said that the arrested man is a resident of Bairabi, the headquarters of Mizoram’s Kolasib district that shares borders with Assam’s Cachar and Hailakandi districts.
The influential Mizo organisation — Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) — has issued an ultimatum saying that if the Mizoram security personnel is not released immediately, they would not allow Assam vehicles to enter Mizoram.
There is also an ongoingd dispute that arose recently over the construction of a bridge by the Assam government near Zophai in Bairabi.
The three southern Assam districts known as Barak Valley — Hailakandi, Karimganj and Cachar — shares a 165-km-long border with Mizoram’s Mamit, Kolasib and Aizawl districts throughout which, there are border disputes in more than five stretches.
On July 26, six Assam Police personnel were killed and over 50 were injured in the bloodiest border violence. After the border violence, there was an “economic blockade” for around two weeks, leaving hundreds of Mizoram-bound goods vehicles, stranded on the National Highway 306.
Assam and Mizoram held a crucial ministerial level meeting on August 5 in Aizawl where they decided to maintain peace along their border, and agreed that they would not send their respective forces and officials to the troubled areas.
