NEW DELHI - At least 20 people were injured in two separate explosions in crowded marketplaces in IndiaÂ’s north-eastern Assam state Saturday, news reports said. Six of the injured were in critical condition, PTI news agency reported quoting police sources.Sixteen people were injured in a powerful explosion in a busy market area of AssamÂ’s eastern Tinsukia town, about 520 kilometres west of the stateÂ’s main city Guwahati, the police said. The bomb was concealed in a sack and strapped to a bicycle parked in the market. Most of the injured were shoppers or vendors, police said. The injured were being treated in hospitals in the town.
Four people were injured in another explosion of lower intensity in Guwahati city. The bomb was planted beneath a truck parked in Fancy Bazar, the cityÂ’s busiest commercial area, the police said.
The police suspected that the blasts were engineered by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in the run-up to its foundation day on April 7. The rebel group has been fighting for an independent homeland for Assamese people since 1979.