Seven persons were killed and 30 others injured when United Liberation Front of Asom militants detonated a bomb at the busy Anthgaon area in the heart of Guwahati at around 10.30 am on Saturday. It was the seventh blast by ULFA militants so far this month.

Meanwhile, a major disaster was averted when the Government Railway Police detected a powerful bomb on the New Delhi-Guwahati Up Brahmaputra Mail in Kokrajhar in Western Assam on Saturday afternoon.

The city police informed that 'the high-intensity improvised explosive device' was planted in an autorickshaw parked on S C Road near Marwari Maternity Hospital close to Anthgaon market.

All the injured were rushed to hospital even as the area was cordoned off by the police in the wake of the blast. Enraged traders of the area came out on the roads demanding security to their lives in view of the repeated blasts in the area during this month.

Today's blast happens to be second blast in the area during the month. Earlier, on May 14 another blast occurred in the same area in which two persons died on the spot.

The casualty in Saturday's blast would have been much higher and lives of school children would have been in extreme danger had the bomb exploded about 30 minutes earlier.

A local resident said there were four schools located on S C Road where the blast took place. Usually, there is a heavy rush of school children and guardians along the road between 8 am to 10 am.

ULFA has targeted Anthgaon and nearby Fancy Bazar area, two business hubs dominated by Hindi-speaking traders, triggering four blasts in the area so far this month.

A powerful bomb weighing about 8 kg was recovered from the New Delhi-Guwahati Up Brahmaputra Mail by GRP personnel during a routine check of the train while it was approaching Kokrajhar railway station in West Assam on Saturday afternoon.

An NF railway spokesman informed that the bomb was off-loaded from the train at the station at noon even as an army bomb disposal squad was rushed to Kokrajhar station. The bomb was planted in the passage linking coaches S4 and S5.

No train was allowed to travel in that section for the next two hours. Long distance trains were regulated at different stations. The army later defused the bomb that was fitted with a remote controlled trigger.