Policemen check a bicycle in Siliguri, a day after the blast in Alipurduar. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Alipurduar, March 19: The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) had masterminded yesterday’s blast that was triggered through a timer device, police said today.

Two persons were killed and 15 injured in the explosion that occurred when an IED planted on a bicycle went off at the entrance to the municipal market.

“Considering the evidence and inputs that we have come across so far, it seems that the KLO was behind the blast,” said Siddhnath Gupta, the deputy inspector-general (CID, operations) over the phone from Calcutta today. “A powerful explosive has been used in the bomb that was detonated through a timer device. Forensic experts have already collected samples and it is only after their report comes in can we confirm the nature of the explosive.”

The KLO, which was established on December 28, 1998 in Bhutan with consistent patronage of Ulfa, is suspected to have executed the blast with its senior partner, intelligence officials said. The Bangladesh-based Huji too might have had a role.

The police said initial investigation suggested that the KLO had been planning the blast for the past few months and may repeat such acts in the run up to the elections.

Though the outfit had suffered a major blow during Operation Flushout in 2003, the outfit had been regrouping in the hilly tracts of Chittagong in Bangladesh in the last one year, intelligence reports suggested.

“There is specific information about youths, mostly residents of Mainaguri, Dhupguri, Falakata and Kumargram in Jalpaiguri and Tufanganj and Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar, who have joined the KLO. There is information that some of these new recruits might have been assigned the task to engineer the blast to mark their presence,” an intelligence officer said.

A four-member team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) collected samples from the blast site today.

Hundreds of curious onlookers flocked to the blast site today and the police had a difficult time warding them off as the forensic experts went about their job.

“Judging by the intensity of the blast, it seems that a very powerful explosive must have been used,” a forensic expert said. “However, we will have to conduct several tests before we can figure out the exact nature of the explosive.”

Some people had been flung about 50 feet from the blast site under the impact of the blast.

The shops, which had shut down in the area yesterday, reopened today.

“I am still in a state of shock,” said Biswanath Chakrabarty. “But I decided to open my shop today as normality has to return to the area. We cannot sit back and let the terrorists rule.”

However, shops in the municipal market will observe a 12-hour-bandh tomorrow.