Assam blast rips apart tall claims

GUWAHATI | NEW DELHI: Eight persons were killed in serial blasts across Assam, including Guwahati, on Monday. The serial blasts, suspected to be the handy work of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), came despite a review of the state���s security by the Centre a few days back and sharing of inputs by MHA with the state chief secretary regarding a possible Ulfa strike coinciding with its founding day of April 7 and the Lok Sabha polls.

The most powerful of the four explosions���timed on eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh���s visit to the state���took place at Maligaon Chariali in Guwahati, claiming seven lives and injuring 32 people. The deadly bomb was reportedly strapped to a motorcycle, and its explosion triggered a major fire in the parking lot, gutting several vehicles. The second blast took place at Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district. Six people were injured when the blast ripped through a crowded marketplace.

A third blast was also reported from Mankachar area in Dhubri district bordering Bangladesh. One person is said to have died in the explosion. A fourth blast was later reported from Udalgiri in Darrang district. Prima facie evidence so far points to the involvement of Ulfa, known for carrying out such attacks to commemorate its Founding Day. Recent intelligence inputs had also indicated the outfit���s designs to carry out some big attacks to block peaceful conduct
of polls in the state.

���There was information about Ulfa and some other groups wanting to indulge in such activities...and hence there was a continuous alert on this score...however, certain elements seemed to have sneaked in despite the stepped up vigilance by the Assam government,��� said a senior MHA official.

MHA sources added that Ulfa has active backing of foreign elements, including Bangladeshi terror outfit Huji, in plotting and carrying out the strikes. According to intelligence sources, ISI and Huji bosses have held several meetings over the last two months with insurgent leaders from Ulfa, All Tripura Tiger Force and Manipuri outfit UNLF at Maulvi Bazaar, Sylhet, Khwaye and Murshidabad in Bangladesh to plot the strikes.

The pattern of exploding bombs ahead of visit of dignitaries was also visible a few days back when a bomb went off in Guwahati hours before external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee was to address an election rally. Earlier, similar bomb blasts were carried ahead of Union home minister P Chidambaram���s visit to Guwahati for a security review.

This time, however, there were both a general security alert (ahead of polls) as well as specific inputs of Ulfa���s violent designs. Security arrangements too were tightened, but the insurgents cocked a snook at the local police by carrying out blasts nevertheless.

A shocked Centre put up a brave front by saying that its alerts did in fact succeed with several recoveries of IEDs and neutralisation of insurgent elements over the past few days. ���But some elements seem to have sneaked through despite the security alert,��� a senior MHA official said adding that the Centre had already directed the state government to tighten the security arrangements further and ensure that Ulfa does not succeed in its plans to vitiate the upcoming polls.