Five persons were injured, three of them seriously, when a bomb went off near the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited office at Bora Service locality in the heart of Guwahati at about 8.15 pm on Wednesday.

Senior police officials informed that three persons including a woman travelling in an autorickshaw were grievously injured in the powerful explosion.

The woman suffered about 80 per cent burns in the blast while a leg of another was severed. The autorickshaw was completely damaged in the blast.

On the basis of circumstantial evidence, the police suspect that the bomb went off inside the autorickshaw and the seriously injured persons were carrying the explosive device to bomb the BSNL office. Two other persons received minor injuries in the explosion.

Police officials said the needle of suspicion pointed towards the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, which has been triggering blasts in Guwahati of late.

After creating fear psychosis among the officials of the Food Corporation of India, with the abduction and subsequent murder of the corporation's executive director Dr P C Ram, the banned ULFA may have set out to target another Central government organisation, the BSNL.

Meanwhile, in a security review meeting held a couple of days back, Assam government underlined the need for augmented security cover for officials of Central government undertakings and PSUs including the Oil India Limited, ONGC [Get Quote] and Coal India Limited working in the state, fearing attacks by the banned ULFA on those officials.