A security blanket was thrown over Guwahati after the military sleuths blew the lid off the militants’ plan to trigger a series of blasts on or before June 23, the day the city would host the Asian Athletic Grand Prix.
The soldiers of the Indian Army’s Red Horns division nabbed two militants of the proscribed ULFA at Nagaon in central Assam. According to a spokesman of the Army’s 4 Corps, the militants were caught when they were carrying explosive devices to Guwahati in order to trigger blasts and spark terror during the athletics journey.
Nearly 190 athletes from 21 countries are expected to take part in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix at Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at Sarasujai in the outskirts of Guwahati next Thursday.
The first leg of the tournament was held in Bangkok on Tuesday. Pune would host the last leg on June 27 next.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi ordered the officials to make the security arrangements in and around the city as tight as it was during the National Games last February.
The ULFA had also threatened to disrupt the National Games with a series of terror-strikes, but refrained after eminent sports personalities and other civil society notables had made an appeal to the outfit’s top brass to restrain its guerrillas during the sporting event.
The city looked like a fortress during the National Games.
The ULFA did briefly pause its subversive activities during the event.
The secessionist outfit resumed its offensive in April and unleashed a reign of terror in May, triggering a series of blasts and killing altogether 19 Hindi-speaking people and injuring over 100 others across the State. It carried out the latest terror-strike on June 13 last. Two people were killed and nearly 35 were wounded in an explosion at a market in Kamrup.
“As the Centre has already sent additional companies of paramilitary forces to the State, security is being stepped up in and around the stadium and the accommodation facilities for the athletes coming to the city for the Asian Grand Prix,” said a senior police official.
An IGP has been appointed as the nodal officer to oversee the security arrangements and coordinate with the paramilitary forces and the Army.
“We hope that the state government would make it sure that the Asian Grand Prix could also be held safely without any trouble,” said the president of the Assam Athletic Association (AAA), Pradeep Buragohain. He said that the first batch of athletes would reach the city on Thursday.