Guwahati, Apr 6 (PTI Terror struck Assam on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit when three blasts and a grenade attack rocked the state in the space of five hours today killing eight persons and injuring 62 with maximum casualties occuring in a crowded market in Maligaon here.
Singh is going ahead with his trip to the North-Eastern state tomorrow and will address public meetings in Dispur and in Dibrugarh as scheduled, PMO sources said in New Delhi. Singh represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha and the rallies mark his entry into the poll campaign trail.
The hand of militants from ULFA and another group is suspected for the spate of attacks which came a day before ULFA's 30th 'foundation day', police said.
Assam DGP G M Srivastav said seven people were killed and 56 injured when a powerful bomb blast went off in a crowded market in Maligaon in the state capital at around 2:00 pm. The explosion sparked a fire that set ablaze two cars and 20 motorcycles and spread to a three-storey building housing the area police station.
Six were killed at the blast site while one succumbed to injuries after jumping from an adjacent building which had caught fire. The bomb is suspected to have been hidden in a car or a motorcycle parked adjacent to the North-East Frontier railway headquarters.
"This is the handiwork of ULFA boys ahead of the outfit's 'Raising Day'," Srivastav said, adding the militants used hi-tech explosives.
In the evening around 7 PM, an unidentified youth lobbed a hand grenade at Mankachar police station in Dhubri district killing a police driver and injuring another.
Dhekiajuli in Northern Assam's Sonitpur district and Jengpha in Central Assam's Karci Anglong district were also hit by bomb explosions.
PTI
