Large cache of grenades found in Tripura

Agartala, May 8 (IANS) Police recovered 127 grenades buried underground in northern Tripura, an official said here on Monday.

Students while playing near a central school at Gaurnagar late on Sunday found the grenades. They informed their elders, who immediately alerted the police, the official added.

"So far 127 old grenades have been recovered buried in the soil. Digging works are still on. Bomb squad and forensic team are also at the spot," he said.

Local villagers said that the grenades might have been buried during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Historian Bikach Chowdhury said Tripura had six to seven camps in four sectors from where the Bangladeshi 'Mukti Joddhas' (freedom fighters) fought Pakistani forces after taking arms training in Tripura.

"Over 1,600,000 Bangladeshis -- a number larger than the state's then total population of 1,500,000 -- had taken shelter in Tripura alone," he said.

The nine-month-long "Mukti Juddho" (Liberation War) later turned into a full-scale India-Pakistan War, leading to the surrender of nearly 93,000 Pakistani soldiers in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.

Tripura shares 856 km borders with Bangladesh.

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