Blast in Dibrugarh OIL pipelines on eve of PM Modi's visit

DIBRUGARH: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Assam tomorrow, an explosion took place in the oil and gas pipelines in the state's Dibrugarh district, which killed one person.

The police said that residents of the Dikom Tea Estate, under Dikom police outpost, heard the sound of a blast in the early hours and reported it to police this morning.

The security forces today found damaged pipelines belonging to the Oil India Ltd (OIL) passing over the Sesa river, according to Dibrugarh district Superintendent of Police Gautam Bora.

The body of a man with his face and right hand badly mutilated was lying by the side of the damaged pipelines, Bora said.

The blast might have been triggered when the person was trying to connect explosives to the pipes for sabotage, he said.

The SP said that it could not immediately be confirmed if the blast was triggered by the ULFA(I) as claimed by the militant outfit before the media.