TURA: Just hours ahead of the two-day dawn-to-dusk bandh call given by the banned GNLA outfit in Garo Hills, suspected militants exploded a hand grenade at a stone crusher unit in Selbalgre, 22 kms from Tura, on Tuesday night.
Unidentified men came in a motorcycle and lobbed the grenade into the compound of the stone crusher unit located in an isolated area of the Tura-Williamnagar road shortly after 10:30 pm.
The stone factory is located approximately 5 kms from Asanangre village.
The deafening sound of the explosion sent shock waves damaging one of the trucks parked inside the compound and forced the workers to flee to safety.
At the time of the incident there were close to a dozen employees of the crusher factory, including a family, staying inside the compound.
“As soon as the explosion occurred the staff at the factory fled for their lives and informed the Nokma about the incident,” said the owner of the factory.
While mystery surrounds the identity of the attackers, the events unfurling on the eve of the GNLA bandh have pointed a finger of suspicion on the banned organization.
It was also brought to light that the previous night, on Monday, two armed men had barged into the compound of the factory looking for the owner and his manager. Before leaving the two men had brandished a pistol and warned the workers of the factory.
Last month, a group of armed men had reportedly barged into the Selbalgre Nokma’s domain in the dead of night and opened blank fire from AK rifles after threatening villagers. The armed men had claimed to represent a new organization in the Garo Hills.