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Fear shrouds Guwahati after bomb attacks

The death of 21 people in three days of stepped-up violence in Assam has shaken the confidence of the common man.

After the two car bomb attempts in Guwahati, the police have launched a major manhunt. Friday's bomb, which killed eight people, and Saturday's unexploded car bomb just hundred metres from the Janata Bhawan, the seat of administration of Assam government, are keeping the people away from the busy market place.

A senior police officer admitted that "it would not be humanly possible to make it (the city) foolproof.''

However, it would not be easy for the Bodo Liberation Tigers to plant another bomb now, he added.

In 1992, the BLT had bombed two places simultaneously, one in the Paltan Bazaar area and the other inside the Assam assembly campus. The police arrested the main accused Dr Thabela Basumatary. The incident, however, highlighted the Bodo issue, and the following year the Bodo Accord was signed.

Meanwhile, speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister L K Advani said security arrangements in the state has been tightened.

The Assam government has announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 to the next of kin of police personnel killed in bomb blasts, he added.

On December 19, Advani said, a powerful bomb exploded while a police party was crossing a wooden bridge at Laokhowapara village, about 11 kilometres from Bilasipara in Dhubri district. Ten persons, including six police personnel, were killed on the spot.

The incident took place when the police party, which had gone for a raid in Raniganj, was returning in a jeep after apprehending four accused. The accused too were killed.

United Liberation Front of Asom extremists are suspected to be behind this blast, Advani said.

UNI

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