Skip to content Skip to navigation

Blast in the Time of Festival: 5 dead, 20 injured

Guwahati: In yet another ‘handiwork,’ ULFA explodes a powerful bomb in the busy Machkhowa areas on Saturday morning at around 7-30 which left four people dead and more than twenty injured.

The blast that rocks again in the time of the grand Ambubachi mela atop Kamakhya and Asian Athletic Grand Prix at Sarusajai, took place in front of a mosque. All those four were killed on the spot.

The bomb was placed beside a small tea stall at the daily fruit and vegetable market. Most of the vendors and visitors were not present in the morning when the bomb exploded.

The injured people have been admitted to the nearby hospital for treatment by the people who rushed to the spot hearing the huge sound the blast made. The conditions of four of these people are critical.

Immediately after the incident, police and top ranked police and civil officials including the Deputy Commissioner Abinash Joshi arrived in the spot and started investigation. Later talking to the reporters on the spot, Mr Joshi says the blast is a handiwork of ULFA.

Meanwhile, the city police beefs up security arrangement in view of the grand fair and festival at the Kahakhya temple and also to ensure security to the athletes across the Asian countries in view of the 16th Asian Grand Prix. The event is inaugurated on Saturday by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Panic spreads among those who gatecrash the Kamakhya temple premises to participate in the on going Ambubashi fair. These people have arrived in the fair spot from the last week.

Comments

A. R.'s picture

The explosion took place at Machkhowa and that too in front of a mosque at 5.30 A.M. and not at 7.30 A.M. The time 5.30 A.M. of Muslim Fajar Salah( morning prayer ) Immediately after the incident, police and top ranked police and civil officials including the Deputy Commissioner Abinash Joshi arrived in the spot and started investigation. Later talking to the reporters on the spot, Mr Joshi says the blast is a handiwork of ULFA. How can A. Joshi imediately blame ULFA without proper investigation. This is second blast in Muslim area within weeks. The last week was - The explosion took place at a predominantly Muslim area in village Gulutuk in Kamrup district, 50 km from Guwahati. The Guluktuk blast - "The blast was carried out at the behest of the RSS and was executed by the organisation's youth wing with Abhijit Sarma as the kingpin," ULFA spokesman Raju Baruah said in a statement received by IANS. "Sarma is a member of RSS's youth wing," the statement said. How can a place which is 100% Muslim - a bomb blast ? This is the main question which the local people's should think.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Nature lovers rejoice at the safe return of the stray rhino to Orang NP

15 Dec 2009 - 11:21am | Jayanta Kumar Das
Nature loving people of Darrang and Udalguri districts have rejoiced at the safe return of the seven years old rhino,which had strayed away from Orang National Park on December 12. After traveling a...

KLO cadres urged to join peace process

26 Dec 2019 - 9:34pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
KOKRAJHAR: The  Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO) Coordination Front consisting former cadres of  of KLO has urged upon the KLO members who are still struggling with arms to come to...

BPF leader shot dead

25 Mar 2014 - 11:20pm | Hantigiri Narzary
A BPF party secretary of Bambrabil primary committee, Mozibur Rahman was shot dead this evening by unidentified armed miscreants at Bhurisatam under Gossaigaon police station in Kokrajhar.According...

AGP: Another hurdle on the road to unification

23 Sep 2008 - 7:46pm | editor
The Asom Gana Parishad is set to hit a major hurdle while it is preparing for unification of the regional forces. The AGP(P) has said the AGP is not clear of a dignified rehabilitation of former...

Other Contents by Author

After a brief halt, Dima Hasao erupts in an uneasy situation. A businessman died at an incident of miscreant attack on Tuesday. The incident took place at 8-30 in the evening when unidentified miscreants sprayed several rounds of bullets at a businessman at Convent Road in Haflong town. Identified as Panchadhar Chaudhury, the business man was on his way back to his residence from his firm. A seriously injured Chaudhury was taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. The miscreants vanished from the spot amid darkness. Policemen rushed to the spot. Investigation is going on.
Guwahati police on Tuesday arrested a person charging him with trying to outraging the modesty of a girl in the city on Monday. The arrested youth works with Amtron in Guwahati. The incident took place at GS Road in Guwahati where a group of miscreants stripped off a teen aged girl on Monday night in full view of the local residents.
A huge fund meant for uplift of the minority people went to the Centre because of some bunglings in Dispur.The allegation came from the Rajiv Bhawan where the party’s minority cell said that the central fund to the tune of Rs 137 crore remained idle during 2011-2012. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee blames it all on a circle of bureaucrats. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Tuesday, APCC minority cell chairman said that they would from now on keep a watch on central and state government schemes for welfare of minorities and check utlisation of funds allocated for such purposes.
Good news for Assam. Courtesy Asian Development Bank. It has extended loans worth Rs 1,462 cr to the Assam government to improve road infrastructure in the state. In three separate loan agreements signed between ADB and the government, Rs 374 crore to improve road connectivity in the north-eastern region. The loan to improve road connectivity in north-eastern region will be used to improve and upgrade 434 kilometres of road in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura. The project is expected to be completed by 2016.
Caught in a string of anomalies and irregularities, the Assam Human Rights Commission has directed Dispur to form a high-level committee to investigate the allegations during the past five years. According to information, the decision was taken after the commission went through the media reports during recent weeks on 'massive embezzlement' of money in flood control and relief operations. It has directed the chief secretary NK Das to form a three-member panel to probe the allegations.
Local residents caught seven NDFB militants of the Ranjan Daimary faction and handed them over to the police at Udalguri district of Assam on Tuesday. According to police, seven, among whom five were NDFB(R) cadres and two linkwomen associated with the outfit, were caught by locals at Natun Basti area in the morning. The seven had been involved in many incidents of extortion in the area. A huge cache of arms including one US made pistol, 15 rounds of catridges, six hand grenades and two denonators, besides some incriminating documents, were recovered from them. The five NDFB(R) cadres have been identified as Pranjal Basumatary, Bhagya Bodo, Sansuma Basumatary, Saila Basumatary and Nersun...
A seven member Central team is on a three days stock taking visit to the flood-hit areas. Divided into three groups, the committee will tour lower and upper Assam district apart from the Barak valley. The team is expected to prepare a report on the extent of damage by flood and erosion. They are also likely to meet state Chief Secretary Naba Kumar Das on Thursday and hold discussions on flood situations along with rescue and relief measures.
The flash flood has rendered around 250 families homeless in Cachar district. The worst-hit areas include Madhura in Udharbond. The river Madhura, which originates from the hills of the neighbouring Dima Hasao district, completely ravaged the village with 22 families losing their homes and belongings. Assam Sports and Excise Minister Ajit Singh has directed the authorities to provide relief to the affected villagers.
The flood wave that ravages 27 districts have left Kaziranga National Park worst-hit. The toll of animals in the UNESCO World Heritage has mounted to 595. These include 17 rhinos, 512 hog deers, 28 wild boar, 15 sambars, 10 swamp deers, five porcupines, elephants, hogbadgers and python and one each of buffalo and jackal respectively.
The overall flood situation remains grim on Monday. Vast tracts of land in both Brahmaputra and Barak valleys are still submerged. The death toll continues to mount till 125. According to information, an estimated 24 lakh people have been affected in the worst-ever flood in recent years causing large-scale devastation in 4,540 villages with more than 9.35 lakh hectares of land completely inundated. The water levels of the major rivers are refusing to recede even after the halt in the incessant rains. The agriculture sector has been severely affected by the current wave of flood with 2.55 lakh hectares of cropland under water.