The IED was placed under a staff bus carrying personnel of the CRPF’s 12th battalion ‘E’ Company to Goalpara town from their Agiya Balijana camp through dense forest at around 8.00 am, District Superintendent of Police Louit Aind said.

Four of the victims died on the spot. They have been identified as head constables Punam Sen, N B Salon, Lance Nayak P N Rao and constable Ronbir Singh, Aind said. The fifth victim Mangal Nayak succumbed to injuries at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital where 13 of the seriously wounded were admitted, official sources said. The other injured were treated at Goalpara Civil Hospital.

The CRPF headquarters in New Delhi has rushed its Additional Director General (Training) Rakesh Jaruhar for an on-the-spot assessment. The ULFA called up local news television channels here and claimed the responsibility for the attack.  ULFA publicity wing member Anu Buragohain called up TV channels asserting that the underground outfit’s long silence should not be read as a sign of weakness.