Blast in Assam; one killed, 36 injured

A child was killed and over 36 persons were injured in a bomb blast today at a weekly market near Misamari army cantonment in lower Assam's Sonitpur district by suspected National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants.

The powerful explosion, suspected to have been caused by a cycle bomb, took place at around 3pm in front of a sweet shop at the crowded Gorubandha weekly market adjacent to the army base and police station at Misamari, about 200km from Guwahati, police said.

The dead was a three-year-old girl who succumbed to injuries at the Tezpur district hospital, where the injured were also rushed, they said.

It was, however, not immediately known if any army personnel was among the injured.

Chaos prevailed at the blast site with people running for safety as the market presented a ghastly sight with blood on the ground and vegetables, clothes and other consumer items strewn around.

The area has been cordoned off due to the apprehension that more bombs may be planted there, police said.

The anti-talk National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Daimary faction is suspected to be behind the blast as the area is their stronghold and a recent map unearthed by the Assam Rifles had shown the area marked for bomb blasts, police said.

The NDFB may have triggered the blast as it was angry with the local peoples' objection to its extortion and cutting of trees in forests along the adjacent Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, they said.