By IANS,
Guwahati : Two rebels were gunned down in separate shootouts with security forces and six apprehended in raids by police Saturday in Assam, a day after a powerful explosion in the state’s principal city killed three people and wounded 10, officials said.
A police spokesman said two militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were killed in separate shootouts.
One of the militants were killed in Guwahati and another ULFA rebel was killed in the western district of Baksa.
“We are investigating if the ULFA militant killed in the Guwahati shootout was involved in Friday’s bombing. The site of the shootout is close to Friday’s bomb blast location,” Guwahati police chief P.C. Haloi told IANS.
Police said that they had recovered some explosives from the dead militant.
Four ULFA rebels were also arrested in separate raids, including three in Guwahati and one from Baksa, while two militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were also apprehended from Baksa.
“The three ULFA militants arrested from Guwahati were in the city to probably carry out some attacks. We are interrogating them,” Haloi said.
“A massive operation is on in Guwahati to neutralize or capture militants,” he added.
Police blamed ULFA for Friday’s attack. It is also accused of triggering three explosions in Guwahati Jan 1 in which six people were killed and 50 injured.
“We had information about the presence of a group of ULFA militants in the city trying to stage some terror acts,” the city police chief said.
Meanwhile, a tough anti-terror law moved by the ruling Congress-led government in Assam was passed unanimously in the state assembly Saturday.
Under the provisions of the Assam Preventive Detention (Amendment) Bill 2009, a terror suspect can be detained in judicial custody for two years instead of six months.
“This new law would help in combating terror more effectively and we are committed to dealing with terrorism very sternly,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.