Blasts kill 7 in Assam

Police suspect ULFA role

Seven  people were killed and 54 others injured in two back to back blasts suspected to have been triggered by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on Sunday, the second time in a week and five days ahead of the militant outfit’s raising day.

The bombs, which exploded near a police station here, were strapped to bicycles, Nalbari Police Superintendent Jitmol Doley said. They exploded within a few minutes of each other and about 50 metres apart, he said.
Cars and other vehicles parked in the area were damaged due to the blasts. Rumours of a third blast in the town were discounted by the police.
A high alert has been sounded and patrolling intensified across Assam after the incident.

A senior police official said the United Liberation Front of Assam was behind the explosions ahead of its Martyrs’ Day on November 27 and there were reports of a group of nine militants belonging to the outfit’s 709 and 27 battalions entering the state to carry out subversive activities.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is in Delhi, condemned the blasts and condoled the death of  innocent people. 

ULFA denial
However, Hira Sarania, self-styled commander of ULFA’s 709 Battalion,  told a local news channel that the outfit was in “no way involved in the bomb blasts and it was just a conspiracy by a certain section to derail the talk process”.
Central government-appointed interlocutor P C Haldhar was in Guwahati last week to hold discussions with state government officials ahead of possible talks with the ULFA. Following the blasts, people came out of their homes in protest and shouted slogans against the ULFA.

The police immediately cordoned off the entire area, which has a number of shops, and began a thorough check of the town.
Chaos prevailed in the Nalbari Civil Hospital, where the injured and the dead were rushed with doctors and nurses trying to calm the agitated people.
Doctors have referred 34 persons, who were seriously injured, to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.