ULFA (I) claims responsibility for Guwahati blast

Four people, including a woman, were injured in a blast near a government hospital in Guwahati on Saturday afternoon.

The blast led to panic ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations which begins on Tuesday.

The cause of the blast is yet to be ascertained.

Guwahati Joint Police Commissioner Diganta Barah said bomb experts were studying the samples from the spot.

"There was an explosion in a pile of garbage but we are not yet sure whether it was a bomb or any other explosive material. So we have called our bomb experts for confirmation. Four persons received minor injury," he said.

The site is close to the ancient Sukreswar temple situated on the bank of the Brahmaputra River.

The explosion damaged a portion of a wall, suggesting it might have been powerful.

ULFA (I) takes responsibility

Ulfa (Independent), a militant group claimed responsibility for the Guwahati blast.

Leader of the rebel group, Paresh Baruah called local television channels claiming that his group carried out the attack to protest NDA government's move to pass Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. The bill seeks to offer citizenship to non-muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who were victims of religious persecution. Ulfa (I) with its hideouts in Myanmar-China borders demands sovereign Assam. Baruah said the outfit would continue to carry out similar attacks.

Since the bill was introduced in the Parliament in 2016, Assam have seen large-scale protests by organisations who oppose the bill saying it would allow "illegal migrants" get Indian citizenship and thereby reduce the indigenous communities in the state into minorities.