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SSP A.P. Tiwari in Guwahati on Sunday shows Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi the site of the grenade blast at Paltan Bazar. Picture by UB Photos
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Guwahati, Sept. 9: Ulfa’s Paresh Barua faction today claimed responsibility for the twin grenade explosions, one in Guwahati yesterday and another in Doomdooma in Tinsukia district on Thursday, as Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said security forces could not avert the tragedies despite having general information about militant attacks.
Ulfa’s claim put an end to both the state government and police’s confusion over which group was behind the attacks.
In a statement emailed to The Telegraph, member of the outfit’s publicity wing, Aranya Asom, said the attacks were carried out as part of its armed protests against “colonial forces” and expressed grief as some innocent people were injured in the attacks.
The statement said Ulfa wished for early recovery of the innocent and appealed to everyone to keep a safe distance from security forces to avoid anything untoward happening to them in the future.
A CRPF jawan, Bhabani Singh, was killed and 13 others, including three CRPF personnel, were injured after a Chinese-hand grenade exploded around 7.45pm yesterday at Paltan Bazar.
Twelve people, including a policeman and a homeguard, were injured in Thursday’s attack.
Gogoi, after visiting the blast site at Paltan Bazar, told reporters this afternoon that rebel groups were continuously trying to carry out subversive activities not only in Guwahati but also in other parts of the state.
“The groups have been trying continuously, and in some cases our security forces had managed to avert tragedies but yesterday and in Doomdooma we could not. Today, we discussed how to take more steps and prevent similar incidents in the future,” Gogoi said.
Asked whether there were any security lapses in Guwahati, Gogoi said assessment would be done and steps would be taken accordingly.
Sources in the city police today said they had picked up some people for questioning in connection with the Paltan Bazar blast case (529/12) but are yet to identify those who had carried out the attack.
Assam DGP J.N. Choudhury also admitted that though security across the state was tight, it was not always possible to avert militant attacks.
GMCH superintendent Ramen Talukdar said condition of all the 13 injured who were admitted to the hospital was stable and treatment is being provided.
The injured have been identified as Ashok Khandave, Manoj Kumar (both CRPF constables), Attar Singh (havildar), Vinit Kumar Sharmah, Subrata Das, Omnath Sahani, Sayera Begum, Bensa Devi, Rinku Sharmah, Rasmel Tandi, Biswanath Dev, Bati Tati and Bharati Das.
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