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Seven people including a policeman were killed and 54 seriously wounded Sunday in a powerful landmine explosion carried out by suspected militants in India's northeastern state of Assam, police said.

A police spokesman said United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) militants triggered a remote-controlled landmine which exploded under a bus near Bamungopha village in western Assam's Goalpara district, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the state capital Guwahati.

"An overcrowded bus was on its way back from a weekly market and as it slowed down near a culvert, the blast took place," a police official told AFP.

"The bus was ripped by the blast and a fire engulfed the vehicle, trapping many passengers inside," he added.

Five people died immediately, while two died of their injuries on the way to hospital.

At least 30 of the 54 other passengers injured in the blast were reported to be seriously wounded.

"The condition of some of the injured is critical as their limbs have been torn apart and they are profusely bleeding," a police official said.

Police said that the likely intended target of the attack was a convoy of police vehicles which had been passing on the same road.

"A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy coming from the opposite direction was in all probability the ULFA's target," deputy inspector general of police Jyotirmoy Chakraborty told AFP.

"The private bus crossed the security vehicles at the time of the explosion and therefore bore the brunt of the attack."

The ULFA, fighting for an independent homeland, is celebrating Sunday as "Soldier's Day", the foundation day of its military wing.

"The ULFA wants to demonstrate their firepower on Soldier's Day and so this blast (happens)," the police official said.

Security forces have launched a hunt to nab the rebels.

The ULFA carries out hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on Indian soldiers in Assam.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives in the insurgency in the past 20 years. 

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