Ulfa (I) claims responsibility for Assam blast

Ulfa (Independent), a militant group on Saturday claimed responsibility for Thursday night's grenade attack at a shop in eastern Assam's Sivasagar district, in which two persons died and two others were injured.

In a statement emailed to DH, assistant publicity secretary of the outfit, Arunodoy Asom said, Arup Gupta, a customer of the hardware shop in which the explosion was carried out was not their target. "Sooner or later, the sternest consequences are obvious for those who betray us," the statement said without clarifying why the shop was attacked.

Assam police officials said the militant group had demanded money from Kamal Agarwal, the shopkeeper and had attacked his family members earlier too. Police offered them security but the family refused.

Two suspected Ulfa (I) members had lobbed a grenade at Agarwal's shop in Dimow town in eastern Assam's Sivasagar district around 5.30pm on Thursday in which two persons died and two others received serious injuries.

Police suspect that the militants escaped into the jungles of neighbouring Nagaland after carrying out the attack. A day earlier, the outfit had abducted the manager of a tea garden from neighbouring Tinsukia district.

The group, with hideouts along the Myanmar-China border, has resumed violent activities in Assam as part of their 'protest' against NDA's 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.'

The Ulfa statement also rejected NIA and Assam police's claim that the outfit was involved in the November 1 killings of five Hindu Bengalis in Tinsukia district.