Ulfa deny hand in Nalbari blasts

Banned militant outfit Ulfa has denied involvement in today's twin bomb blasts in Nalbari, which claimed six lives and left more than 54 injured.

"Ulfa are in no way involved in the bomb blasts, and it is just a conspiracy by a certain section to derail the talks process," Hira Sarania, commander of the outfit's 709 battalion, suspected to be behind the attack, told a local news channel today.

"The allegation is totally motivated and has been made to discredit the organisation. There have been several occasions in the past too when such misinformation had been made against us," Sarania added.

Asked who was behind the so-called conspiracy, Sarania said, "It will soon come out."

"We are not interested in showing our strength in this manner," Sarania said when asked whether Ulfa had carried out the blast following the arrest of their top leaders — "finance secretary" Chitrabon Hazarika and "foreign secretary" Sashadhar Choudhury.

The Centre has appointed interlocutor PC Haldhar for furthering peace talks in Assam. He was in Guwahati last week to have talks with state government officials on the issue.