Assam News: The banned ULFA (I) on Thursday claimed to have planted bombs at 24 places across Assam. Following the claims, security forces sprung into action and sent teams to look into the matter. A senior police officer said bomb disposal squads have been rushed to all the places mentioned by ULFA (I), but there is no report of recovery of any bomb or explosive.
In an email purportedly from the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) (Independent) to media houses, including news agency PTI, the terror outfit asserted that the bombs did not blast due to "technical failure".
The latest claims made by the terror outfit brought back the horrific memories of the 2004 Dhemaji bomb blast on Independence Day in which 18 people, including 10 children, lost their lives.
In the email, ULFA (I) gave a list identifying the exact location of 19 bombs and said locations of five more explosives could not be ascertained. It sought public cooperation in defusing the bombs.
When contacted, a senior officer at Assam Police headquarters told PTI that all the SPs of the districts, especially those mentioned in the list by the anti-peace talk faction of ULFA, have been alerted and asked to carry out a thorough search of the areas.
"Bomb disposal squads, metal detectors, and sniffer dogs have been dispatched to every location. So far we have not got any information on the recovery of bombs," he further stated.
However, some local police officers in Nagaon, Lakhimpur, and Sivasagar claimed that they have recovered some "bomb-like material" from the spots.
According to PTI, out of the 24 locations, eight are in Guwahati. These include an open field at Last Gate in Dispur, near Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other ministers' official residences.
Another place is the Satgaon road towards the Army cantonment in Narengi in Guwahati. Apart from these, Ashram Road, Panbazar, Jorabat, Bhetapara, Maligaon, and Rajgarh in Guwahati have also been mentioned as the spots of bombs. Places have been named in Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Tamulpur, Tinsukia, and Golaghat districts, also where ULFA (I) claimed to have planted bombs.
Police have closed all roads in and around the places mentioned in the mail. Senior police officials have rushed to all the places and are monitoring the search operations.
2004 Dhemaji Bomb Blast
The threat in the northeastern state came two decades after the 2004 Dhemaji bomb blast claimed 18 lives. The explosion occurred on August 15, 2004, at 8:55 AM at the Dhemaji College ground in Assam during an Independence Day programme. As many as 18 people were killed and 20 were injured in the blast. ULFA was accused of carrying out the blast but the outfit denied the allegation.