The outlawed United National Liberation Front-Independent (ULFA-I) carried out a series of blasts in eastern Assam on Sunday amid heightened security for the 71st Republic Day.
The police said there was no casualty and the low-intensity blasts caused minimal damage in Dibrugarh and Charaideo districts. The ULFA-I claimed responsibility for four of these blasts, which occurred within a span of 15 minutes, besides another in Tinsukia district. The police, however, confirmed only four blasts.
“We carried out the serial blasts to protest the forced celebration of a day associated with colonial India,” the outfit’s publicity wing said in a statement. Two blasts took place in Dibrugarh town. Another happened at Duliajan in Dibrugarh district, while
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
“We condemn such cowardly acts. An investigation has been ordered,” Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.
The ULFA-I has set of explosions and lobbed grenades during Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations in the past. The deadliest of these was on August 15, 2004, when 18 people — mostly school children — were killed in northeastern Assam's Dhemaji.