Imphal: Former Deputy Speaker of Manipur Assembly, R T T Haokip has escaped unhurt when unknown militants made an abortive attempt on his life by lobbing a powerful grenade at his house, official sources said today (June 5,2004).

Sources said that some militants exploded a grenade at Haokip's house at new lambulane area in the heart of high-security town at around 7 hrs (IST) yesterday (June 4,2004) but nobody was injured.

They said the attackers aimed the grenade at the private room of Haokip who along with his family members was very much inside the house when the incident occured.

The motive behind the crime was not known, sources said adding that the militants escaped under cover of darkness although there was heavy deployment of security personnel as the area was very close to Imphal central jail.

Haokip was not immediately available for comment but sources believed that the incident might have been connected with the demand of money from from Haokil by some militant outfits.

A caller who identified himself as spokesman of the underground Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), claimed that they had attacked Haokip by lobbing a powerful grenade at the latter's house at new Lambulane. No reason was given by the caller.

Official sources said investigation has been ordered to find out how the ultras sneaked into high-security Imphal town where police forces were deployed at various entry points to detect movement of extremists following reports that insurgents were attempting to infiltrate into Imphal area.

Sources said police posts in and around Imphal area had been put on maximum alert in the wake of series of attack on the houses of public leaders in the recent weeks. Unidentified militants had attacked the houses of Manipur Power Minister T Phungzathang and Urban Development Minister L Nanada Kumar Singh by lobbing powerful bombs in separate incidents in the past fortnight. No casualties had been reported.