Three passengers were killed and 30 others wounded when unidentified extremists triggered a powerful blast inside a passenger train in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on December 2. The train had just reached the Diphu station in Karbi Anglong district when the explosion occurred. Police suspect it to be the handiwork of the extremist Karbi Longri N.C. Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) operating in the district1.

Meanwhile, brushing aside demands for the lifting of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the Manipur government extended the ‘disturbed area’ tag for another year in the whole of Manipur, barring the Imphal municipal area, on November 29 with effect from December 1. The Act was enforced in the Manipur hills for the first time in the early sixties to tackle Naga militancy and it was gradually extended in the whole of Manipur in 1980 as militancy spread to the Valley areas as well2.

• 1. “Train blast kills 3 in Assam,” Hindu, December 3, 2008, at http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/03/stories/2008120360831300.htm
• 2. “Army act extended for 1 year,” Telegraph, December 1, 2008, at http://telegraphindia.com/1081201/jsp/northeast/story_10188061.jsp