Date:10/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011059071100.htm

National

Police point the finger at ULFA

Sushanta Talukdar

Guwahati: Two people were killed and at least 10 others injured when a cycle bomb went off in a busy market at Maligaon here on Friday evening. The blast occurred at 6.30 p.m. less than 150 metres from the Northeast Frontier Railway headquarters.

Director-General of Police G.M. Srivastav told journalists that preliminary investigation indicated that the blast was the handiwork of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The cycle with the IED was parked in between two cars, both of which were badly damaged and their occupants injured. The cycle was blown to pieces while the cars bore splinter marks. Blood stains could also be seen inside two cars and surrounding areas of the market.

The police suspect that the militants wanted to create a larger impact and a huge fire, triggering off the bomb near the petrol tanks of the cars.

One of the deceased has been identified as Dhiren Kakoti, a safety inspector of the N.F. Railway. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the blast was a heinous act against innocent people.

The incident came a day after the prime accused in the January 1 serial blasts in the city, Pranjal Deka alias Biju Sarania of the ULFA, was killed in an encounter at Halikuchi village in Kamrup district. Another bomb-maker, who was with him at the time of the encounter with a joint team of the police and the Army, escaped.

In the Assembly, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Chief Minister would soon quit chairmanship of the Unified Command and entrust the responsibility to the Chief Secretary.