6 killed, 25 injured in Guwahati blast

At Kokrajhar, tragedy averted as police recover suitcase bomb from Brahmaputra Mail

Guwahati: Even as the police averted a tragedy at the Kokrajhar railway station, six persons were killed and 25 injured in a blast, suspected to have been triggered by the United Liberation Front of Asom, at Athgaon here on Saturday morning.

A time device planted in an autorickshaw parked on the busy Sati Joymoti Road went off around 10.45 a.m. The police said an LPG cylinder being carried on a rickshaw also burst, adding to the impact of the explosion.

Five persons died on the spot and another in hospital. The bodies of most of the victims were mutilated.Those identified were Partha Saha, Nirmal Dey of Athgaon, Nareswar Deka of Jyotinagar, Md. Anowar, a rickshawman from Bihar and M. Ali from Dhubri.

The blast came a day ahead of a public rally planned in the city by the Tarun Gogoi-led coalition Government to celebrate completion of its one-year rule.

Acting swiftly, the Centre rushed additional paramilitary forces to beef up security in Assam.

At the Kokrajhar station, Government Railway Police personnel recovered a suitcase bomb fitted with two improvised explosive devices from the Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail. ADGP D.K. Pathak said that a routine checking of the train threw up the IEDs, kept in a suitcase and concealed in a gunny bag planted in the vestibule between coaches S4 and S5. A major tragedy would have occurred had the IEDs gone off on the running train, he said.