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India-Pakistan
Rebels attack Assam gas pipeline
2004-07-16
Oil and gas pipelines are the new soft-target of terrorists wanting to inflict quick economic damage, the easy & the cowards method, as in Iraq.
Firefighters in India's northeastern state of Assam have put out a gas pipeline blaze caused by an explosion claimed by rebels late on Thursday. It was one of a series of blasts which rocked Assam on Thursday. A fire also erupted on an oil pipeline in the neighbouring state of West Bengal. An outlawed separatist rebel group, the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), says it was behind all the incidents.
I guess they've recovered somewhat from the thumping Bhutan gave them...
The head of Ulfa's military wing, Paresh Barua, told the BBC that his group was responsible for three blasts in Assam as well as the oil pipeline blast in West Bengal. The fire in the gas pipeline in northern Assam's Baiganbari area was brought under control more than 10 hours after it broke out. It was caused by an explosion that blew parts of the 40-centimetre (16-inch) pipeline to pieces. The pipeline is operated by the state-owned Oil India Limited (OIL). The company's officials told the BBC that a huge fire erupted at Baiganbari after the explosion ripped open the pipeline which feeds a liquefied petroleum gas plant at Duliajan town, where the OIL headquarters is located.

A fire broke out in an oil pipeline near the Mahananda rail bridge in West Bengal at around the same time as the Assam blast. The army was called out to douse the flames in the oil pipeline and the fire that threatened to engulf a passenger train near a bridge that connects the state to Assam. Two more explosions took place on Thursday - one in the Assam capital Guwahati and the other in the western Assam town of Bongaigaon. Six people including three policemen were injured in the blast. Earlier this month, the Ulfa threw grenades at several cinema halls in Assam where Bollywood films were being screened. A security adviser to the Assam government, Jaideep Saikia, told the BBC that Ulfa had regrouped after recent setbacks. The attacks in Assam come as the state government, police and army are all busy coping with monsoon floods that have displaced nearly five million people. Millions in need and these vermin cause even more headaches Ulfa is targeting oil and gas installations to prevent what a rebel spokesman describes as the exploitation of Assam's oil and gas resources by the federal government.
Posted by:Mark Espinola

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