(AKI/Asian Age) - An investigation into the nine serial bomb blasts that struck the Indian state of Assam last week has suggested that the outlawed separatist United Liberation Front of Assam may have been responsible for the attacks. Highly-placed security sources told The Asian Age newspaper that a conspiracy might have been hatched in Dhaka but it was assembled and planted by ULFA rebels in Assam.ULFA is one of several militant separatist groups that operate in northeast India and its aim is to establish a separate state in Assam. The Indian government banned the organisation in 1990 and classifies it as a terrorist group.
While Assam's Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has linked the attacks to external forces, security sources probing the serial blasts said that there was conclusive evidence indicating the involvement of outlawed ULFA rebels in the devastating bomb blasts.
The security agencies, after scientific examination of the three blasts in Guwahati, reached the conclusion that these blasts were not much different from the earlier bomb blasts by ULFA. The security sources also disclosed that they were carefully examining all aspects of the serial bomb blasts which may also give a new dimension to the perceptions of the insurgency in the region.
Sources said that they had found evidence linking the ULFA rebels in the 1 October serial blasts in Agartala.
Meanwhile, a two-minute silence was observed across the state to mourn the death of innocent people in the nine bomb blasts. Gogoi led the state in mourning and participated at a memorial service at the state secretariat.
As the clock struck 11 am, sirens sounded across the state and Assam observed two minutes of silence, remembering the 84 people killed and silently praying for the recovery of the 800 others injured in the multiple blasts.