Grenade attack kills one, injures six in northeastern India
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Grenade attack kills one, injures six in northeastern India
Guwahati, Aug 12 - At least one person was killed and six more seriously wounded in a powerful grenade blast in India's northeastern state of Assam, the latest in a series of attacks ahead of Independence Day on 15 August, officials Friday said.
A police official said tribal rebels lobbed a grenade Thursday at a crowded market in village Dokmoka, 150 kilometers east of Assam's main city of Guwahati. The blast took place around 8.45 PM.
"Seven persons were injured in the attack and were shifted to hospitals with multiple wounds," police official B. Nath said. One of the injured died in hospital early Friday.
Police suspects the blast to be the handiwork of a local Karbi tribal rebel group fighting for more autonomy in eastern Assam.
There were two more separate grenade attacks in the same area although there were no casualties, the police official said.
There were at least 30 explosions and attacks since Saturday with militants blowing up rail tracks, oil and gas pipelines, power facilities, besides a blast at a market Sunday that killed four people and wounded nine more.
Police has blamed all the explosions and attacks on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), a rebel group fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979.
The ULFA had claimed responsibility for blowing up gas and oil pipelines and other installations but denied its role in the market blast Sunday that killed four persons.
The militants routinely step up attacks before India's August 15 Independence Day.
At least four frontline separatist groups, including the ULFA, have called a 17-hour general strike Tuesday to boycott Independence Day celebrations.
More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the northeast since India attained independence from the British in 1947.
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