Rebels blow up oil pipelines in Assam

June 10, 2006 Normal life in the Asom continued to be disturbed for third day in a row on Saturday following the series of subversive activities engineered by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom(ULFA). In the latest incident, Police on Saturday morning sounded red alert in the Guwahati city as an explosive timer device found in front of Kamrup SP office in Panbazar.

"The recovered device was kept in a Tiffin box, which was programmed to explode at 6:15 [IST] in the evening," said police sources adding that the hand of ULFA was suspected. The passengers of Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express had a miraculous escape as a bomb planted on the tracks near Naharkatia in the Dibrugarh district detonated just before the superfast train was to pass last night, said official sources. On Friday night, at least six persons injured in the state, following five powerful blasts that was suspected to be triggered by the banned outfit.

These blasts came barely hours after a powerful bomb explosion that killed five people and injured over 15 at a busy vegetable market in the Guwahati city on Friday evening. According to police, at least six persons injured when a bomb exploded in the house of one Milan Deori in Rupaisiding- Tapoban-Tiniali area in the Tinsukia district allegedly planted by ULFA militants. Besides this the outfit reportedly blew off four Oil pipelines belonging to Assam Gas Company Limited and Oil India Limited (OIL) successively at two places in the Dibrugarh district last night.

Police source said that two blasts occurred at 10:25 IST and 25 minutes later damaged pipeline used for electricity generation at Namrup Thermal Power plant at a place under Naharkatia police station. Later two more explosions severely damaged two crude oil pipelines belonging to OIL, nearby Bhadoipanchali. In another incident, at least three army personnel injured when militants hurled grenade at an army truck at Doomdooma in Tinsukia district at around 8 p.m. IST yesterday. On Thursday, there were four separate explosions that left 34 people injured in the districts of Dhubri, Mangaldoi and Nagaon.