Two brothers killed in ‘antique’ bomb explosion in Manipur

The village chairman Tongkhopao Baite said, many unexploded World War-II era bombs were once recovered from a place close to the explosion site in Manipur

Two brothers died when a bomb, suspected to be from World War II era, exploded in their backyard in Manipur’s Moreh, a border commercial town under Tengnoupal district, bordering Myanmar. Moreh town is located about 110 km south of Imphal.

The two Manipur brothers were digging in the backyard of their house in a border town of the state when the explosion took place. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The explosion took place at Lhangkhinchoi (Gangte veng) village under Moreh Ward number 9 around 4 pm on Wednesday when Lalsangmuon Gangte (23) and Lenkhogin Gangte (21) were digging in the backyard of their house, people familiar with the developments, said on Thursday. The two brothers died on the spot, they said.

The village chairman Tongkhopao Baite said, many unexploded World War-II era bombs were once recovered from a place close to the explosion site, when the land there was being levelled for construction.He also requested the state government to provide necessary help to the victim’s family. Baite was referring to recovery of around 122 shells of unexploded World War II era bombs from a nearby area last year in November. Remnants of World War II are found in Manipur every now then as the state was one of the battlefields in the war. In 1944, the British Fourteenth Army and the Japanese Fifteenth Army clashed around Imphal.