Colonel killed in IED attack

The police suspect the hand of the anti-talk faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland in the incident. Three persons,including the owner of the house from whose compound the explosion was set off,have been picked up for interrogation.

Sources expressed surprise over the Colonel’s decision to take the Tezpur-Tawang road ahead of sanitisation by a road opening party,which is the norm,especially on the stretch between Rangapara and Bhalukpong. The road is regularly checked between 5.30 am and 6.30 am every day.

Giving details of the incident,Army spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said from the Corps headquarters at Tezpur that the Colonel was on his way from Tezpur to Tenga,headquarters of the 5 Mountain Division,where he commanded the Ambulance Unit.

Quoting eyewitnesses,he said as the blast went off,the Maruti Gypsy in which the Colonel was travelling was lifted 20 feet from the ground. Five occupants of an Army ambulance that was closely following the Maruti Gypsy,who had a miraculous escape,also saw the incident.

The bodies of Perumal and Kumar were later shifted to the Tezpur Civil Hospital for postmortem. Col Kalia said the Colonel’s body would be flown to Secunderabad,where his wife and two children live. The Naik belonged to village Baisru under Bahadrugarh tehsil of Rohtak district in Haryana.

The police recovered about 50 m of flexible fuse wire and 20 batteries from a spot close to the explosion site. Tracks of motorcycle wheels were also found in the area,leading the police to suspect that the culprits fled by motorcycle after triggering the blast.