Guwahati : Ahead of Republic Day celebrations, militancy strikes again hit in Manipur on Monday evening as an powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) had blew up in Imphal.

Suspected militants had triggered the blast at the foot of the southern wall of Johnstone Higher Secondary school near M-Sector of Defence PRO in the capital city of Manipur.

The IED was exploded at the area around 6 pm and one woman was injured in the blast.

The injured woman was identified as 50-year old Yenshembam Sabita and she is a sweeper of Imphal Municipal Corporation and rushed to nearest hospital.

Meanwhile, top police and army officials had rushed to the area and cordoned off the area.

A top official of Manipur police said that, suspected militants are behind the explosion and security personnel have been launched massive operation to hunt the attackers.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has recently alerted the Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya government and state police as several militant groups of the region are planning to attack on security forces and triggering explosion ahead on Republic Day celebrations.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)