By IANS,
Guwahati : The Assam government Tuesday claimed the wave of bombings Oct 30 that killed 83 people and wounded 300 were carried out by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in connivance with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
“Involvement of some active members of the NDFB has come to light during the course of the investigations. The involvement of the ULFA in the conspiracy of carrying out serial blasts in the state has also come to the fore during investigations,” a statement issued by the Assam government said.
The NDFB is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the tribal Bodo community in western Assam with the group operating a ceasefire with New Delhi since May 2005. The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland since 1979. The two groups have denied triggering the explosions.
“The main culprits who have perpetrated the crime have been identified and all efforts are on to apprehend them. Probable involvement of other agencies and organizations is also under investigation,” the statement said.
It said eight people had been arrested so far in connection with the serial explosions. Police and security forces have since cordoned off the NDFB’s designated camp in western Baksa district since Monday night suspecting some of the kingpins of the blasts could be hiding inside the barracks.
The authorities are now contemplating whether to break the three-year-old ceasefire with the NDFB.
“We shall be soon storming into the NDFB’s designated camp to catch some of the cadres involved in the blasts,” a senior police official said, requesting not to be named.
The sequence of events before and after the explosions in Guwahati (three blasts), Kokrajhar, Barpeta, and Bongaigaon have also been revealed.
Investigators have found that three Maruti cars used in the Guwahati bombings were all purchased by NDFB cadres, while a motorcycle used in the Bongaigaon blast was also owned by a NDFB rebel.
According to investigators, plans for executing the serial blasts were chalked out by NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary, who is believed to be based in Bangladesh. Daimary was apparently unhappy over the slow progress of the peace talks with New Delhi and did the planning with the support of the Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (HuJI).
The run up to the blasts was even more revealing.
On Oct 28, the three vehicles used for the blasts in Guwahati arrived in the city from different locations and was parked at a house in the Gorchuk area in the city’s outskirts.
On Oct 29, the three vehicles were packed with explosives at the same place.
On Oct 30, the three cars were driven to the allotted parking lots in the city for the terror strike. One of the cars was driven by a man named Thumri Narzary, believed to be a NDFB cadre. Police are now in possession of the call list of Thumri’s mobile phone and the location from where he called based on mobile tower positions. After parking the car at the chief judicial magistrate’s court, Thumri left Guwahati for an unknown location.
Thumri’s mobile phone was then tracked at Rangia, 70 km from Guwahati, and then in Kokrajhar. After this, Thumri’s mobile phone could not be tracked.
The owners of the three cars used for bombings were traced to Baksa district in western Assam. The NDFB’s designated camp is located in Baksa.
Meanwhile, the ULFA Tuesday blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for triggering the serial blasts in Assam.
“The RSS executed the explosions and they had planned it long back by issuing notices to their cadres and other wings to carry out such attacks,” ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said in a statement.