Seven BJP activists hurt in Panur blast

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR, JAN. 2. In yet another incident of apparently accidental explosion of country bombs in the district, seven BJP-RSS workers were seriously injured in the blast that ripped through an uninhabited house at Konkachi under the Panur police station limits here today.

Police said that a massive blast of explosives took place inside the house owned by one K. Kamala Teacher at Konkachi, a BJP-RSS stronghold in the Panur area, at 3-50 p.m. All the injured were inside the house when the explosion occurred. The old tile-roofed house was partially damaged in the explosion. The debris after explosion lay scattered in 10-metre radius of the house, police said.

The explosion, coming close on the heels of some incidents of clashes between CPI(M) and BJP-RSS workers in Panur and Chokli areas yesterday, created a tense situation in the areas.

The injured BJP-RSS workers are Sunil (25), Santhosh (20), Prashanth (28), Mahesh (30), Shibu (23), Hareendran (28) and Saheendran (25). The condition of Santhosh, Prashanth, Hareendran and Shibu, who got their palms severed in the blast, is stated to be critical.

While Santhosh was rushed to the Speciality Hospital in Kochi, the remaining injured have been admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

According to police, the nature of the wounds suffered by the injured was indicative of the possibility of the blast having occurred while making country bombs. Police also said that another unidentified person, who was inside the house, fell into a nearby well while fleeing from the spot after the blast.

A large posse of police personnel reached Konkachi area, one of a few exclusively BJP-RSS `zones' in the trouble-torn Panur area. Senior police officers also rushed to the spot. Extensive raids were going on in the area in search of explosives, police said.

Despite the presence of large number of policemen in the area, the crew of the Kairali TV channel going to the spot of the blast in a vehicle was blocked by a some BJP-RSS workers near Konkachi. The mob also snatched the camera and took away the cassette before allowing the party to leave the place.

The latest incident of the bomb explosion also strengthened the public concern that the police was not effective in unearthing bombs and explosives even as rival political workers continued to pile up bombs to be used during outbreak of violence. It may be recalled that a few CPI(M) workers had been injured in separate incidents of accidental bomb explosions at Thazhe Chambad, Moozhikkara and Dharmadam during the past few months. Two CPI(M) workers had been killed in a similar explosion at Pullyot near Kathirur in 1999.

The police were on alert in the area in the wake of outbreak of tension following separate incidents of clashes between CPI(M) and BJP-RSS workers yesterday in which two each of rival party workers injured. The CPI(M) workers, P.V. Ashraf (30) and Aneesh (21) had been injured when a group of suspected RSS workers attacked a CPI(M) procession at Kattimukku under Chokli police station limits at around 8-30 last night.

The assailants had thrown country bombs at the procession being held out by CPI(M) workers to protest against the assault on a CPI(M) worker by a group of RSS workers in the area. The injured have been admitted to the Co-operative Hospital at Thalassery. In another incident, an RSS worker, V. Ravi (38), had been stabbed by alleged CPI(M) workers at nearby Kunnothpeedika under the Panur police station limits at around 9 p.m. He had been admitted to the MCH, Kozhikode. Another BJP worker, P.P. Sudheendran (28), was also injured in an earlier attack at Kattimukku.

Meanwhile, the District Collector, Mr. K.R. Jyothilal, today convened the district all-party peace committee's core committee comprising CPI(M) and BJP-RSS leaders. The leaders, Mr. E.P. Jayarajan and Mr. M.V. Jayarajan, MLA, of the CPI(M) and Mr. O.K Vasu of the BJP, were understood to have assured their co- operation for the proposal for holding a police circle-level peace meeting in Panur in the evening.

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