Panic has gripped the Fancy Bazar area of Guwahati today following two back to back explosions in the crowded market area on Saturday afternoon leaving three persons including a minor injured.
Police said that the explosion took place around 3.15 pm near the former campus of the Guwahati Central Jail in Fancy Bazar area. The explosion took place near a garbage bin injuring three persons who were standing nearby.
Although police ruled out involvement of any militant outfit behind the incident, the locals suspect that the anti-talk faction of the Ulfa militants might have used low intensity crude bomb to strengthen their extortion net in the city. The incident also took place less than a week after the anti-talk faction of Ulfa militants attacked a group of Hindi speaking people at Namrup in Dibrugarh district and injured two of them. The Ulfa faction, opposed to talk had also warned of similar attacks on Hindi-speaking community in the days to come.
Fancy Bazaar area which is one of the busiest commercial area of Assam’s capital town Guwahati, is also dominated by the Hindi-speaking community. “We are investigating the matter. The intensity of the blasts are indicating that it is now grenade or any other bombs. The impact would have been more if grenades or any other bombs were used. However, we are going for forensic examination to ascertain the exact nature of the explosions,” said Guwahati City Police Commissioner, Mukesh Agarwala.
The police commissioner urged the people not to panic and spread rumours and added that the police are taking adequate measures to ensure security for all.
6 JuM militants arrested in Assam
Guwahati: Six Jamaat ul Mujaheedin (JuM) militants, including one allegedly close to the Burdwan blast kingpin, were arrested from different places of lower Assam and huge quantities of arms and ammunition seized, police said on Saturday. The police arrested the ‘jehadis’ from Baksa, Chirang, Goalpara and Kokrajhar districts and the prize catch was Monirul Islam alias Burabhai who was absconding since the police busted a jehadi camp in September last, IGP(BTAD) l R Bishnoi told PTI. Islam had allegedly visited Burdwan before the blasts last year and was also attempting to set up training camps for jehadis in Barpeta districts and along the Assam-Meghalaya border, he said.