Guwahati/Jorhat, April 3: At least 15 people were injured, three of them seriously, when Ulfa militants lobbed a grenade at a busy marketplace in Machkhowa in the Assam capital this evening.

The attack came on the eve of a 12-hour statewide bandh called by the outfit in protest against alleged police atrocities on the wives of missing Ulfa activists. The six women have been on a fast-unto-death demanding information about their husbands’ whereabouts.

The injured were identified as Pranjit Rabha, Gajendra Talukdar, Mohammad Su-jab Ali, Mukut Ali, Sushil Das, Mina Kumari, Rijuan Sharif, Niranjan Baroi, Khagen Nath, Umesh Sahu, Kari Sahu, Dwijen Sarkar, Sunil Singh, Anil Jain and Vinod Kumar Shah. The condition of Pranjit Ra-bha was stated to be critical.

Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Avinash Joshi said the grenade explosion occurred around 6.10 pm. “We had apprehended such an incident in the run-up to Ulfa’s raising day on April 7 and tomorrow’s bandh. Police vigil has been intensified.”

The grenade exploded just in front of a tea stall on Kedar Road near Pragjyoti Auditorium at Machkhowa.

Another bomb was recovered from inside the Army Supply Corps base at Bhalukmora along the border between Jorhat and Golaghat districts this morning.

An Army jawan found the bomb, which had been planted near the slaughterhouse of the base, located near Thengalbari market.

The bomb squad of Jorhat police later defused the timer device.

Another improvised explosive device and explosives were recovered by the police from a paddy field at Sutagaon under Pulibor police station in Jorhat district at 3 pm.