By IANS
Guwahati : At least seven people were killed and 30 injured here Saturday in a powerful explosion blamed on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
"The bomb planted in an auto-rickshaw exploded at around 10.45 a.m. near the Marwari Maternity Hospital in the busy Athgaon area," city Senior Superintendent of Police S.N. Singh said. The injured were admitted to various hospitals.
The police said all the seven died on the spot.
The explosion, believed triggered by a remote device, also caused an LPG gas cylinder to burst, which was being transported in a cycle-rickshaw, police said.
Police later cordoned the area.
The blast sparked off angry protests in the area and in nearby Fancy Bazaar, the commercial hub of the India's northeast region.
In a separate incident, police recovered live bombs in the Brahmaputra Mail at Kokrajhar Railway Station. The bombs were later defused.
ULFA has been targeting migrant workers and Hindi speaking people and business in Aathgaon. A series of bomb blasts took place in the area since January. Two people were killed in an explosion in Guwahati last week.
In the past two months, the ULFA triggered at least 25 explosions in various parts of Assam and launched fresh attacks on migrant workers, killing 10 of them.
The ULFA was also blamed for a string of attacks in January in which 80 people were killed, 61 of them Hindi-speaking migrant workers.
The central government launched a massive anti-insurgency offensive against the outlawed organistion killing 55 rebels and arresting 553 cadres since January.
ULFA has been fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.