 GUWAHATI: Seven persons were killed and 20 others injured in a powerful bomb blast by the ULFA in Guwahati's Athgaon area on Sunday triggering public protest in nearby commercial Fancy Bazaar.
| Going after the soft targets; guess the police and army are too tough for the terrs ... |
City Senior Superintendent of Police S N Singh said the bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded at around 10.45 am near the Marwari Maternity Hospital in Athgaon where shoppers were going about their business. Stating that some of the victims died on the spot while others on way to hospital, Singh said, the injured were admitted to various hospitals in the city. Utter chaos and confusion prevailed as people attempted to flee. Police cordoned off the area and the injured were being rescued, Singh said.
The blast triggered angry protests in the area and in nearby Fancy Bazaar, the commercial hub of the N-E region. Local people took to the streets in protest against the repeated blasts in their area asking shopkeepers to down their shutters.
Police said they suspected the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to be behind the attack. "We had intelligence inputs of ULFA targetting the city's crowded areas, a day ahead of celebrations to mark the state government's first year in power," said a police official. |
