By IRNA,
Guwahati, India : A massive security operation was launched Saturday in India’s northeastern state of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
The operation was launched with an arrested militant leading police to a rented accommodation to recover a powerful explosive and unraveled secrets of at least two bombers sneaking into the city to strike ahead of Republic Day.
A police spokesperson said a militant bomber of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), arrested earlier this week from the city, led a team of commandos to a safe house in Guwahati’s Lalmati area early Saturday.
“Based on information provided by the arrested ULFA bomber, we raided a safe house of the outfit and recovered a powerful improvised explosive device,” a senior police official said.
Police are now in the lookout for at least two ULFA bombers in the city.
“The arrested ULFA militant divulged crucial information about at least two bombers specially assigned for Guwahati to carry out attacks ahead of January 26,” the official said.
The ULFA and four other militant groups in the northeast have called for a general strike and boycott of Republic Day in the region.
“We have stepped up operations in the city and also across the state to foil any rebel plans to attack in the run up to Republic Day,” the official said.
Meanwhile, a powerful explosion took place late Friday in Manipur’s capital Imphal, although there were no casualties.
The blast took place on a roadside, three km away from the airport in Imphal. No
casualties were reported, a Manipur police official said.
On Tuesday, a grenade attack close to the Manipur police chief’s residence in Imphal injured three passersby.
Security forces in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura, have been heightened with militant groups in these four states calling for boycott of the Republic Day.