Hill group blast claim

TT, Calcutta, Sept. 7: A hitherto little-known group, Gorkhaland Liberation Army, today claimed responsibility for the recent blasts in the hills and asserted that its members were ready to kill and die for Gorkhaland.

In a poster plastered in Mirik, the group called itself "soldiers for Gorkhaland" who were not affiliated to any political party.

"We take the responsibility of all the blasts that have taken place in recent days," the poster, written in Nepali, stated.

The group also threatened those opposing a separate state, saying: "GLA is ready to go to any extent for the cause of the community and land, even if we need to kill or die. Keep this mind, the Bengal government."

The poster comes a day after a blast took place about 100 metres from a camp of paramilitary forces in Krishnanagar in Mirik. Similar blasts have taken place outside police stations in in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Sukhiapokhri, Teesta and some other places in the hills. A civic volunteer died in the Kalimpong attack.

The police have slapped Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung and several other leaders with cases under the UAPA Act in connection with the blasts.

A day after the Darjeeling explosion, police had said that prima facie inputs had suggested that Bimal Gurung and some other Morcha leaders were involved in the incident.

Bimal Gurung, Prakash Gurung, (chief of Yuva Morcha) among others, have also been slapped with cases under UAPA Act.

Police had also claimed that they had busted a "workshop" where IEDs were being made at the houses of Morcha supporters at Lebong in Darjeeling, early this week.

The GLA is virtually unknown even though the police had claimed it has recovered a rifle and a pamphlet written by GLA at an abandoned building at 27<+>th<+> Mile, about 45 kilometres from Darjeeling, in 2014.

"One cannot rule out the possibility of diversionist strategy so as to divert the attention. A thorough investigation is needed," said a police official.

Gurung today said that legal action should be taken against those who had claimed responsibility.

"We always believe in democracy and we condemn incidents of blast. I, personally think that the blasts are being orchestrated by the police and they are hatching a conspiracy to frame me," he said.