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Prayagraj youth continue handling crude bombs despite losing life and limb
In the last few years, there have been many incidents in Prayagraj when crude bombs have gone off accidentally
Despite innumerable incidents in which people lost arms and received injuries during manufacturing and ferrying crude bombs, youths are still involved in these acts. In the last few years, there have been many incidents in Prayagraj when crude bombs have gone off accidentally resulting in serious injuries to makers or those carrying them.
In the last one month, there have been a series of crude bomb attacks in different parts of the city, mostly a result of rivalries between different groups of students who are at loggerheads with each other.
Hurling a crude bomb to cause terror among opponents may thrill youths but making them and carrying them poses grave threat to their lives, says Guddu, a firecracker expert. The crude bomb explosion may claim the life of the person making or carrying it, or it may blow away his limbs disabling a person for life. The severity of the harm depends on the ingredients used in making the crude bomb, Guddu added.
Another firecracker expert, Saleem, says simple and common firecrackers often cause serious burns when not handled properly. The same explosives when used with potassium chlorate, sulphur etc mixed with nails, ball bearings, shrapnel, crushed glass and powdered iron etc turns into a deadly crude bomb. Miscreants usually use paper to fill the ingredients and explosives and wrap it tightly with string to make an effective crude bomb. Sometimes, empty tobacco boxes of tin or any similar small container of plastic are also used for making a bomb which is wrapped using cellotape.
It is during this process when a crude bomb may go off. Slight pressure on the container packed with explosives may trigger an explosion and may claim the life of crude bomb maker or permanently disable him.
Sometimes, the heat may also cause a crude bomb to explode, while in many instances, crude bombs have also gone off when being transported on a rough road, Saleem claimed.
The sight of people without palms or their arms is not uncommon in Prayagraj especially in the Old City areas. Majority of them admit that they lost their limbs when crude bomb they were making went off suddenly. Many such people have criminal records but after losing their arms their terror among people came to end.
Police officials say that they have no official record of persons who lost their arms or are injured while making crude bombs as they do not usually approach the police in such cases.
However, SSP Shailesh Kumar Pandey has said the source of raw material used in making crude bombs will be traced to control such incidents. He also urged parents to keep an eye on the activities of their children and counsel them to stay away from anti-social activities.
Around a month back, two youths were injured in a village in Ghoorpur area when the crude bomb they were carrying went off suddenly.
An LLB student lost both arms while he was making a crude bomb to attack his rivals in Khuldabad area over three years ago. A video showing both his arms blown away after the explosion also went viral on social media platforms.
Around five years back, a miscreant lost an arm while he was testing a crude bomb he had made. The miscreant was found lying unconscious with his blown away hand in a water tank at an under construction market in Kareli area.
Besides dozens of incidents during last many years have occurred when children died or were injured when they picked up crude bombs lying in garbage dumps assuming them to be balls.
