India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Four persons were injured as a series of bombs exploded in Imphal, Manipur during India ’s 66th Independence Day celebrations. According to media reports, the first explosion was reported from Thoubal district at about 8 a.m., another explosion occurred in the Mahabali Temple complex, two others near Sagolband and on the Minuthong Bridge . The injured were admitted in a nearby district hospital, and their condition was said to be critical. Manipur, which neighbours Myanmar , is called the Jewel of India for its paddy fields, lakes and green hills. But it has been plagued for decades by a low-intensity war, blamed by authorities on rebels sheltering in Myanmar as well as a stream of drugs and guns seeping through the porous border. India 's policy makers are loath to loosen the emergency shoot-to-kill powers imposed in 1958 in Manipur and other northeastern states for fear of giving oxygen to rebel movements in a region that also borders Bangladesh and China . Perhaps for the same reason, and despite a drop-off in violence that has killed 3,000 in a decade, India has dallied on plans to turn Manipur into a serious trading corridor with Southeast Asia and Myanmar, which is shaking off decades of isolation and welcoming new investment.

Four injured in blasts in Manipur on Independence Day