Serial blasts in northeast India, 61 dead

INDIA: At least 61 people were killed and over 300 injured Thursday in a dozen blasts that ripped through towns and markets in the insurgency-hit northeastern Indian state of Assam, police said.

A police spokesman confirmed a total of 12 blasts within the space of about one hour, five of them in the state's main city of Guwahati.

Three other districts in western Assam were also targeted.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although state officials said the bombings were probably the work of the rebel United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

"This is an act of cowardice... designed and carried out to spread terror," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, adding that the army had been placed on standby. But the ULFA denied any role in the attacks.

"We are in no way involved in the blasts," the group said in a statement.

Assam's home commissioner, Subhas Das, put the death toll at 48, with 25 of the fatalities in Guwahati, where the blasts targeted busy markets, including one close to the high security secretariat and state assembly.

An immediate curfew was clamped on the city as angry residents went on the rampage, attacking police vehicles and public buses.

"The area was teeming with people, office workers, shoppers and vendors when a very big explosion took place," said witness Arindam Das, who was shopping in one of the markets.

"I saw at least six dead bodies, while more than 30 people were lying on the ground and bleeding," Das said.

One of the blasts took place in front of the Guwahati District Magistrate's Court, killing five people.

"Some of the bodies were charred beyond recognition," Deputy Inspector General of Assam Police G.P. Singh said.Eleven people were killed in three explosions in the western district of Kokrajhar and 12 in nearby Barpeta district.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said every effort would be made to bring the bombers to justice.

"Such barbaric acts targeting innocent men, women and children only highlight the desperation and cowardice of those responsible," Singh said

Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the main government spokesman, said preliminary investigations showed some of the bombs had been strapped to bicycles and packed with incendiary material to trigger fires.

"The needle of suspicion is on the ULFA," Sarma told reporters. "We need to now ascertain if the ULFA was helped or aided by other forces or groups."

The explosions came six weeks after the Indian capital New Delhi was hit by a series of bombs in crowded markets that left more than 20 dead. Those blasts were claimed by a group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen

In the past two decades, more than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam, which is known for its tea, timber and oil reserves.

Public support for the ULFA has dwindled in recent years after a series of attacks in public places that claimed heavy civilian casualties.

A recent survey by a civil society group, the Assam Public Works, said more than 95 percent of people in the state rejected the ULFA's demand for independence.

Non-Assamese people make up nearly one-quarter of the remote state's 26 million people. The state has 800,000 people from Bihar state, many of whom have lived in Assam for decades.

In January 2007, police blamed the ULFA for a wave of attacks in which 62 people, mainly Hindi-speaking migrant workers, were killed.

Peace talks between the ULFA and the government fell apart in 2006. Since then the rebels have kept up their attacks.

Violent insurgencies have wracked India's northeastern states - known as the "seven sisters" - for decades. More than 50,000 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in the region since India's independence in 1947.

GUWAHATI, Thursday, AFP