The Hindu : Front Page : 6 killed, 14 injured in Assam blast

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Sunday, Jun 24, 2007
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6 killed, 14 injured in Assam blast

Sushanta Talukdar

Explosion caused by improvised explosive device, says DGP

. — PHOTOS: RITU RAJ KONWAR

TERROR AND AGONY: The body of a blast victim being removed from the blast site in the crowded Mackhowa area in Guwahati on Saturday. (Right) A woman cries in agony after watching her family members getting killed in the explosion

GUWAHATI: Six persons, including three minors, were killed and 14 injured in a blast near a mosque in Machkhowa on Saturday morning. The blast occurred around 7.30 a.m., amidst heightened security measures for the Asian Atheletics Grand Prix which started here in the afternoon and the Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya temple, which began on Friday.

Director-General of Police R.N. Mathur told reporters that the blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Although no organisation claimed responsibility for the blast, Additional Superintendent of Police, City, Rajen Singh told The Hindu that the modus operandi indicated the hand of the ULFA. The dead have been identified as Rafique Ahmed and his 10-year-old son Safique, Hasan Ali (17), Sanjib Ali, and Hanufa Khatun (3).

The injured were admitted in the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital from where the seriously injured were shifted to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman called for mobilising the public to fight against such extremist violence. Security in the city was tightened due to the visit by a Thailand delegation.

The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports and Development of the North Eastern Region Manishankar Aiyar and Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh also arrived here to attend a business interaction with the delegation.

ULFA denial

PTI reports:

The ULFA has claimed it was not involved in the bomb blast.

In a statement e-mailed to the media here, ULFA spokesman Maj Raju Barua said the group was in no way involved in the blast that killed “innocent people.” “The ULFA wants to make it clear that it has never been involved in killing innocent people and it was only a conspiracy hatched by vested interests to malign the outfit’s name,” Barua claimed.

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