By IANS
Guwahati : Seven people were wounded, five critically, when a blast went off at a market place in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district Thursday during a public meeting addressed by state Minister Khorsing Ingti. The minister was not injured, the police said here.
The explosion took place in Howraghat in Karbi Anglong, about 290 km east of Assam’s main city Guwahati.
“The bomb was strapped to a bicycle parked by a marketplace where Hill Areas Development Minister Khorsing Ingti was addressing a meeting,” a senior police official said on telephone. The venue of the minister’s meeting was about 300 metres from where the blast took place.
“Seven people, most of them either shoppers or vendors, were injured,” the official said. Five of the injured were in a critical condition and have been shifted to hospital.
The police suspect the blast to be the handiwork of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) or the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
“Either the KLNLF or the ULFA militants could be responsible for triggering the blast,” the official said.
The KLNLF is a rag tag rebel outfit fighting for a homeland for the majority Karbi tribe in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.