Eight people were killed and more than 45 injured in a powerful explosion at Chai Galli of Fancy Bazaar at 6.45 pm, police said.
GUWAHATI: In a major strike after a long lull, suspected ULFA set off two blasts in quick succession on Sunday evening killing 12 people and wounding 50 persons, 15 of them seriously, in busy Fancy Bazaar and Noonmati areas of the city.
Eight people were killed and more than 45 injured in a powerful bomb explosion at Chai Galli of the busy commercial centre of Fancy Bazaar in the city at 6.45 pm.
Official sources said the bomb was fitted to a bicycle.
Five people died on the spot and three others succumbed to their injuries on way to Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
The injured were taken to nearby Mohendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital from where 15 of the critically wounded were shifted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
The casualty in the Fancy Bazaar blast was expected to go up, police added.
Fifteen minutes before that, a grenade exploded at Patharquarry area in Noonmati near Indian Oil Corporation's Guwahati Refinery and Oil India Limited (OIL) installations, killing four persons and injuring five.
The crowded Chai Galli area of Fancy Bazaar area wore a devastated look with mangled bodies strewn around, vehicles and several shops damaged.
The site of the bomb blast in the Fancy Bazar area of Guwahati, where eight persons were killed, presented a ghastly sight with blood-spattered bodies and dismembered limbs strewn all over the place and wails of the injured renting the air.
Utter chaos and panic prevailed after the blasts set off by suspected ULFA group, with anxious relatives and local people desperately searching for their near and dear ones.
Rescuers used whatever means of transport was available, including hand-pulled carts, to take the injured to hospitals.
The GMC and MMC hospitals worked in full force with doctors desperately trying to revive the critically injured, giving oxygen to some and saline and first aid to others.
Assam government did not rule out the involvement of ULFA or Jehadi groups like Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba in the blasts.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that "initial investigation reports suggest that the blast could be the handiwork of ULFA".
Assam Chief Secretary S Kabilan said the blasts could be the handiwork of ULFA or some Jehadi groups.
"It could be the act of ULFA. But we do not want to rule out the involvement of Jehadi groups as they have been trying to target Guwahati for quite some time now," Kabilan said.
Gogoi announced Rs three lakh as compensation to the next of the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.
The government will also bear the medical expenses for treatment of the injured.
"I have directed security agencies to step up vigil. The situation in the state is fully under control," he said.
In Delhi, the Centre has convened a high-level meeting on Monday to discuss the security situation in Assam in the wake of the Guwahati blasts.
The meeting would be attended by Home Ministry officials, Director General of Military Operations, Director General of Military Intelligence and Intelligent Bureau and CRPF officials.
Kabilan also convened a meeting of the Unified Command structure, comprising the army, paramilitary forces and state police, in Guwahati, on Monday to review the situation arising out of the blasts.
Strongly condemning the blasts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said killing of innocent people was cowardice and violence can never achieve any goal.
Singh has assured adequate relief to the kin of the victims of the near-simultaneous blasts in Assam capital, his Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said.
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