By IANS
Guwahati : A police bomb disposal squad Thursday defused a high-intensity bomb planted near a railway station in Assam, averting heavy casualties, officials said.
A police spokesperson said the nearly two-kg improvised explosive device (IED) was fitted on to a power transformer located at the Borhat railway station in Sivasagar district, about 385 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
“There would have been heavy casualties as the railway station was packed with passengers waiting for local trains when an alert policeman spotted the bomb and reacted immediately,” a senior police official said.
The police suspected militants of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) could have planted the bomb.
On Tuesday, the police recovered two bombs from the same district – one planted near an oil pipeline belonging to the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), and the second kept near the office of the Sivasagar police chief.
There were intelligence reports about possible ULFA attacks with the state scheduled to hold village council elections next month.
“Security forces have been put on alert across Assam, especially along vital oil and gas installations, besides railway stations and government buildings,” an intelligence official said.