A grenade blast in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district killed a 12-year-old boy on Tuesday morning.
The incident in the Kathakathani area of Jagun happened less than 24 hours after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) to come forward for talks.
The district police said the boy, identified as Suraj Hajong, succumbed to injuries at the Margherita Civil Hospital nearby.
No outfit has taken any responsibility for the blast. “It could be an accidental blast, but we are investigating how the grenade came to be there,” a local police officer said.
The needle of suspicion is, however, on the ULFA-I, whose military chief Paresh Baruah has refused to talk peace unless “occupational India” discusses sovereignty of Assam. He is believed to be operating from a hideout on the Myanmar-China border.
Tinsukia Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Nimbalkar rushed to the spot to assess the situation.
