JOIN USBlast in Assam Congress headquarters injures five
According to police, the militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) around 6.50 pm at Rajiv Bhavan in the Tarun Nagar area where some party members gathered to welcome APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita.
DGP Shankar Baruah said a detonator of the IED was retrieved from a garbage dump near the APCC headquarters. Minutes before Kalita arrived, the explosion took place severy injuring spokesmen Mehdi Alam Bora and Akhya Rajkhowa while general secretary Ranjan Bora and two others received minor injuries.
The walls of the building, window panes and furniture were also damaged . The injured have been admitted to Gauhati Medical College hospital. The ULFA’s anti-talk faction, led by ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah claimed responsibility for the attack.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had earlier said that the anti-talk faction had issued threats to Congress candidates ahead of the Assembly elections slated for next month. The Home Ministry last week had also conveyed to the Assam government that the faction might target the Congress workers.
DGP Baruah said police were aware of threats issued by insurgent groups to candidates in the run-up to the election. The city has been thrown under a strict security blanket and a search operation is on in various parts.
“The Congress will in no way be intimidated by such tactics ahead of the Assembly election,” Tarun Gogoi said. The Central government has deployed 100 paramilitary companies in the state for the two-phase elections slated for April 4 and 11.
Violent incidents had shown a downward trend in Assam in the past few months following the surrender of several top leaders of the banned ULFA and their holding of talks with the Centre.
ULFA military chief Paresh Baruah is, however, opposed to the talks and has pledged to carrying forward the group’s arm struggle. The ULFA observes March 16 as its ‘Raising Day’ as the group’s armed wing was formed that day in 1979.