Blast outside Manipur speaker's residence in Imphal

Imphal, Jan 22 (ANI): A bomb blast occurred at a parking lot outside the residence of Manipur speaker, Hemochandra Singh at around 6:15 pm here today.

According to initial reports, one person has died and two have been injured in the incident.

Speaking to reporters after the incident, Manipur speaker, Hemochandra Singh said that the incident occurred when a group of people had gathered at his place to meet him.

"It is a sad incident, I have no words to express. All my people here are in state of shock. This has happened when entire crowd was gathered at my residence," said Singh.

Condemning the attack, Singh said that the incident is a manifestation of sinister design.

"This is such a heinous act by coward people. This to my mind is a manifestation of a sinister design where the democratic process has been challenged," he stated.

Singh further informed the reporters that security forces and the bomb disposal squad have started gathering information regarding the incident.

According to an eyewitness, the incident had occurred when a group of people who come to meet the speaker had just parked their vehicles.

"Not sure but it was around 6.15. We felt some force from our back after that we saw lot of firing. Two people got injured. We had come here for the visit and had just parked our vehicles when this incident occurred. We were just walking when this incident happened," said an eyewitness.

Security forces were also seen retrieving a body from a drain near the parking lot.

The incident has occurred when assembly polls are going to be held in the state on January 28. (ANI)