Ghising injured in grenade attack

SILIGURI, FEB. 10. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chairman and Gorkha National Liberation Front chief, Mr. Subhas Ghising, suffered seriously head injuries in a grenade attack on his car by unidentified gunmen near Kurseong this evening. Three persons, including one of the assailants, were killed in the ambush.

The Additional SP, Siliguri, Mr. Ajoy Kumar, said splinters from the grenade hit Mr. Ghising on the head and neck.

He was rushed to the Paramount Nursing Home.

The assailants, armed with sophisticated weapons, kept up a 30- minute exchange of fire with the security personnel and torched Mr. Ghising's pilot car, the IGP (law and order), Mr. Prasun Mukherjee, said in Kolkata.

Six security men were also injured and they were admitted to a Kurseong hospital. The condition of one of them was stated to be critical.

The five-car convoy was ambushed at Satghumti, near Kurseong at 6.00 p.m. when Mr. Ghising was on his way back to Darjeeling from New Delhi after holding tripartite talks on the future of the DGHC. He had earlier addressed a press conference at Pintal village after arriving in the Bagdogra airport.

Police later found an AK-47 rifle, two magazines and a grenade from the ambush site. Mr. Ajoy Kumar said.

The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharjee tonight directed the police to take immediate steps to nab those involved in the ambush.

``I have asked the police to take immediate measures to apprehend the culprits,'' he said in a statement in Kolkata. Condemning the attack as `dastardly', he wished Mr. Ghising a speedy recovery and expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.

- PTI

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