In a very tragic and shocking incident, a grenade blast in the early morning of 11th May took the life of a youth in Jagun, Margherita of Tinsukia District. Another youth was severely injured.
The incident happened when two brothers of Kothakathoni Village went to take a bath in the Burhi Dihing river. The younger brother Suraj Hazong saw a hand grenade by the river and picked it up, probably without realizing what it was. The grenade blast in his hands killing the youth on the spot and injuring his younger brother.
Speaking to NKTV, a family member of the youth said that people of the village regularly took baths in the river and had never seen any such a thing before. The incident had been sudden and is without any precedence.
Notably, the area had seen high insurgency activities in the earlier years, and regular encounters between security forces and militants about two to three years back. Although some villagers are of the opinion that the grenade must have been left over from then, others believe that taking cover of the prevailing night curfew, militants might have been using this road even now.