The Hindu : Front Page : 26 killed, 100 injured in Nagaland blasts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 03, 2004

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Front Page

26 killed, 100 injured in Nagaland blasts

DIMAPUR/GUWAHATI, OCT. 2. In a sudden outburst of violence in the North-East, 45 persons were killed and about 150 injured in a series of bomb blasts and firing by militants in Nagaland and Assam today.

Twentysix persons, including women and children, were killed and over 100 injured in two powerful blasts that rocked the railway station and a nearby market in quick succession in Nagaland's commercial town of Dimapur.

Militants strike in Assam

Militants belonging to the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) struck terror in Lower Assam, indulging in indiscriminate shooting at weekly markets and triggering explosions in Dhubri and Chirang districts and in Bogaigaon, killing 19 persons and injuring 48.

Giving details of the twin blasts in Nagaland, police said the first IED explosion occurred at the Dimapur railway station at 9.30 a.m. killing 12 persons on the spot and injuring 60. People were waiting for the arrival of the daily passenger train, running between Guwahati and Upper Assam.

The platform was crowded with people, including schoolchildren, waiting to board the train to Bokajan in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, when the explosive planted near the entrance detonated.

The blast completely damaged the stationmaster's office, the reservation and enquiry counters and blew off the roof.

Seconds later, another blast rocked the busy Hong Kong Market area, killing 10 people on the spot and injuring 40, police said. Four critically wounded people died at the district civil hospital.

The police are yet to ascertain whether any militant group of the North-East was behind the twin blasts.

In Assam, NDFB militants stormed the Makrijhora weekly market in Dhubri district at 5.30 p.m. and opened fire killing 11 persons on the spot and seriously injuring four, a top police official, L.R. Bishnoi, said.

In a simultaneous attack in the same district, a group of militants fired at a truck going from Guwahati to Bihar and injured three.

In another incident at the oil township of Bongaigoan, militants hurled grenades, killing three and injuring 10. Militants hurled grenades killing two motorcyclists and injuring two at Abhayapuri.

Militants set off a bomb at Santipur Bazar in Chirang district on the Indo-Bhutan border at 9.15 a.m., killing one person on the spot. Another died in hospital, while 16 injured were admitted to a hospital at Dhaligaon.

Police station attacked

Three policemen were injured when militants hurled grenades at the police station at Baihata-Chariali in Kamrup district.

One person was killed and another injured when ultras attacked the Jagi Road police station with grenades, police said.

Militants fired at a train injuring 10 people at Diphu in Karbi Anglong district.

An NDFB militant was shot dead by security forces in Kokrajhar district last night.

The NSCN(I-M) condemned the blasts and said ``such mindless acts of terrorism, which can never achieve anything good for the people, has no place in a civilised society.''

ULFA rejects ceasefire

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has rejected the ceasefire offer by the Assam Government. The ULFA "commander-in-chief," Paresh Barua, called up local newspapers yesterday night from a secret location and rejected the offer. — PTI, UNI

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