Ulfa-I claims responsibility for blast in front of army camp in Assam's Jorhat

Guwahati: Banned insurgent group Ulfa-Independent on Friday claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that occurred near an army camp in eastern Assam's Jorhat district on Thursday evening. 

In a statement emailed to media organizations on Friday morning, Rumel Asom, member of the outfit's publicity wing, said the outfit carried out the attack to protest Assam Director General of Police, GP Singh's repeated attempts to call the Ulfa conflict a law and order issue.

"The conflict is political and it can be ended politically only. But the DGP GP is directly or indirectly trying to label our long struggle as a law and order issue," said the statement.

The statement, however, made it clear that the blast was not aimed at the state police forces. 

The army on Thursday evening said the sound of an explosion was heard outside an army camp in Jorhat. Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Mahendra Rawat told DH on Friday morning that a "mild" blast took place in a waste bin near the gate of an army camp. "No one was injured in the explosion," he said. 

Ulfa said the explosion was carried out near the army's 41 Sub Area unit at Lisubari in Jorhat.

This was the third such blast carried out by Ulfa-I since November. Similar explosions were carried out near army installations in the neighbouring Tinsukia and Sivasagar districts in November, and earlier this month. The Jorhat, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Charaideo districts in eastern Assam are still considered as strongholds of Ulfa-I. The AFSPA was extended recently in the four districts.

Formed in 1979, Ulfa has been demanding a "sovereign Assam." One faction led by chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and General Secretary Anup Chetia are in talks with the government since 2011 and is likely to sign an agreement with the government soon. But Ulfa-I led by Paresh Baruah, is still out of the peace process.