India's N-E Separatist guerillas blow natural gas pipeline
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Guwahati, India, Sept 30, IRNA
India-Northeast-Oil blast
Separatist guerillas blew up a natural gas pipeline overnight in India's restive northeastern state of Assam, the latest in a string of attacks after New Delhi last week called off a six-week ceasefire, officials Saturday said.
A police spokesman said militants suspected to be from the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) late Friday triggered a landmine explosion at a gas pipeline belonging to the state-owned oil exploration company Oil India Limited (OIL).
The incident took place near Salmari in Dibrugarh district, about 510 kilometers east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"It was a 10-inch gas distribution pipeline and our workers were on the job throughout the night to repair the damaged facility. The extent of the damage is yet to ascertained," OIL spokesman Phanindra Dev Choudhury told IRNA by telephone from the company headquarters at Duliajan in eastern Assam.
The ULFA has not yet owned up responsibility for the blast although police blames the group for the attack.
ULFA rebels Friday carried out a grenade explosion at a busy marketplace in eastern Assam's Tinsukia town and critically wounded six shoppers.
On Thursday, seven people, including two paramilitary troopers, were injured in another explosion by the rebels in the oil township of Digboi in eastern Assam.
The ULFA is stepping up attacks after New Delhi Sunday called off a six-week ceasefire and resumed military operations against the outfit.
Peace talks between ULFA representatives and the Indian government formally broke down Wednesday after the People's Consultative Group (PCG), a civil society team appointed by the rebels to mediate for talks, pulled out of the peace process blaming New Delhi for calling off the truce.
A government spokesman said two ULFA rebels were killed and two more captured since the army resumed anti-insurgency operations against the group last week.
The ULFA is a rebel group fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979.
More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.
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