MADRAS: A huge statue of Mahatama Gandhi and two offices of the Congress party suffered extensive damage in bomb attacks in Tamil Nadu on the eve of the Republic Day.
All the attacks are believed to have been carried out by the Tamil Nadu Liberation Front.
A status of Mahatma Gandhi outside the office of the Villupuram municipality about 160 kilometer south of Madras, was smashed to smithereens in a loud explosion at 3 a.m.
The municipality office is reported to have suffered minor damage.
Police rushed to the spot and found leaflets carrying the name of Tamil Nadu Liberation Front scattered at the scene of the explosion.
In another explosion, again at exactly three in the morning, the Congress office in Kodaivasal Taluk in Tanjore district, about 400 kilometer from Madras, was rocked by an explosion damaging the building completely.
Here again pamphlets of the Tamil Nadu Liberation Front were found at the site.
In the third explosion, also at 3 a.m., a bomb went off at the Congress office in Athur, a small town in Salem district destroying the front portion of the office. Phamphlets of the Tamil Nadu Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The police here are perplexed at the timing of the explosions. All the bombs were detonated exactly at three in the morning, though the explosions had occurred in three districts separated by 150 kilometer from each other.
The police believe that the culprits had split into three groups and after planning the bombs linked to a lime devise and left by State transport buses.
A dog squad summoned to the scene at Villupuram led the police team to the local bus stand.
It may be recalled that another extremist organization, Tamil Nadu Retrieval Front, was responsible for several explosions in the last few years including the one in which the Tricky-bound Rock front Express was derailed, in which many were killed.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 29, 1993
