http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040826/wl_asia_afp/india_unrest_blast_040826175103
Five killed, scores hurt as rebels bomb buses in India's northeast
GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Five people were killed and scores wounded in
northeast India when militants blew up two buses, threw a grenade into
a market and triggered twin blasts on a railway track, officials said.
The attacks in Assam state, and two others on Wednesday, were blamed
on the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which is fighting
for an independent homeland.
Two people were killed and 33 wounded, some critically, when
explosives concealed in a sack blew apart a crowded bus in the town of
Gossaigaon, 270 kilometres (167 miles) west of Assam's main city of
Guwahati, officials said.
"Passengers spotted an unidentified sack inside the bus and as they
were trying to disembark, the explosion took place, blowing apart the
vehicle," Kokrajhar district magistrate Asish Bhutani told AFP.
An hour later a bus belonging to the paramilitary Border Security
Force (BSF) and carrying soldiers and their families hit a landmine in
Paikan, 140 kilometres west of Guwahati.
Two soldiers and a six-year-old girl, the daughter of a trooper going
on holiday, were killed, police Inspector General Khagen Sharma said.
Nine people were wounded.
Later Thursday a suspected ULFA militant on a motorbike threw a
grenade into a busy market in Tangla, 60 kilometres north of Guwahati,
police chief Khagen Sharma said.
"At least seven shoppers were critically wounded," said Sharma. The
militant escaped.
Suspected ULFA militants also triggered two explosions late Thursday
which injured three people and ripped up a railway track near an oil
refinery in the heart of Guwahati's Noonmati area.
The first explosion ripped up seven metres (23 feet) of track, said
Guwahati district magistrate Adsar Hazarika.
"An hour later a crowd had gathered at the railway blast site when a
second bomb went off 20 metres (66 feet) away. A policeman, a photo
journalist and a civilian were seriously injured," he added.
Sharma said the ULFA militants had planned the attacks and others in a
desperate attempt to stay in the news. "The ULFA has rocked Assam with
three blasts and two grenade attacks in the last 24 hours to grab
headlines," he said.
"We have intercepted messages from ULFA militants regarding their
plans to unleash terror in the state," he said.
On Wednesday suspected ULFA rebels threw a grenade outside a cinema in
Dibrugarh, killing one person and wounding a dozen more.
They are also blamed for a blast on a railway track in Kokhrajhar
district Wednesday which narrowly missed a goods train that had passed
minutes before.
In the most deadly recent attack by suspected ULFA militants, 15
people were killed by a landmine on August 15, India's Independence
Day.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday called for peace talks with
ULFA and accused neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar of harbouring
cadres of the group.
"The people of Assam want the ULFA to stop these barbaric attacks on
civilians and come for negotiations," Gogoi said, adding, however, the
rebels did not appear to be ready to talk.
"The ULFA it seems does not want to come for talks and the violent
attacks are a pointer ... The ULFA has declared a war on the people of
Assam and we cannot tolerate such cowardly attacks," he said.
"We want the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to crack down on
ULFA camps located in their countries ... We have definite reports of
the ULFA having bases inside these two neighbouring countries."
Bangladesh has denied the presence of Indian rebel groups in its
territory. Myanmar has assured New Delhi that it will expel any Indian
insurgents it finds.
Some 30 rebel outfits, including the ULFA, are waging insurgencies in
India's northeast as they seek greater autonomy or independence. They
say New Delhi exploits the region which is rich in oil, tea and
timber.
More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency violence
in the northeast since India's independence in 1947.
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