GUWAHATI/TINSUKIA/LAKHIMPUR/DIBRUGARH, Aug 16: Two ‘IED-like devices’ were found in Guwahati on Friday, taking the total number of ‘bomb-like substances’ seized across Assam in the last 24 hours to 10 after the banned ULFA (I) claimed to have planted 24 explosives to trigger serial blasts in the state, a top police official said.
A minor has been picked up by Lakhimpur Police for questioning, while search operations for unearthing explosives were conducted in different places, including in Tinsukia district’s Panitola residence of former self-styled general secretary of the outfit, Anup Chetia, who signed a peace pact with the government last year, officials said.
The United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), in an email to media houses, including PTI, on Thursday gave out a list identifying exact locations of 19 bombs with photographs but could not pinpoint the remaining five spots.
Related Posts:
ULFA (I) said the blasts were scheduled to take place between 6 am and noon on Thursday but after failure in execution as the bombs did not explode due to “technical failure”, it sought public cooperation for defusing the explosive devices.
Among the two devices found in Guwahati, one was at Satgaon area, near Narengi Army Cantonment, and another at Last Gate in close vicinity of the state secretariat and ministers’ colony, where the chief minister’s residence is also located.
“We carried out a thorough search in all the areas mentioned in the ULFA statement. In Satgaon, search was conducted yesterday and it resumed today. We recovered an IED-type device in Satgaon and another in Last Gate,” Guwahati Commissioner of Police Diganta Barah said.
He said the two devices were similar to the ones found in the city on Thursday, one in Panbazar and the other on Gandhi Mandap Road.
“The two explosive-type devices seized today are similar to the ones found yesterday. It has detonator, electric circuit, batteries, but no triggering mechanism,” the CP claimed.
He maintained that though some ‘explosive-type substances’ have been found in the devices, whether these were explosives will be known only after forensic examination is completed.
Barah claimed that although ULFA (I) mentioned eight places in Guwahati where it had purportedly placed the explosives, as per police intelligence the ‘bomb-like substances’ were actually planted in four spots and accordingly, search was conducted in the identified locations.
“We are maintaining utmost vigil,” Barah added.
Another police official said a search for explosives was conducted at the Panitola residence of Chetia, which remains locked as the family resides in Guwahati at present.
However, no recovery was made, the official added.
Chetia said in Guwahati that he had alerted the police and government about the possible presence of bombs in his Panitola residence after he was informed about it by ULFA (I) chief and his former associate in the outfit, Paresh Barua.
Stating that he has spoken to Barua several times since Thursday, Chetia said that the terrorist claimed to him over telephone that the ULFA (I) doesn’t want to target any innocent person and only wanted to show its strength by planting the bombs.
On his house being targeted, Barua purportedly told Chetia that there was no such instruction from him.
Lakhimpur Superintendent of Police Aparna N said search operations were conducted in various places during the day, but no explosive or any suspected device was found.
She said a boy was picked up on Thursday night on suspicion of planting one of the two ‘IED-like devices’ in the district, though no arrests have been made.
A senior police official from Dibrugarh also said that a search for probable explosives was conducted but no such suspected item was detected.
Eight ‘bomb-like substances’ were seized by police across Assam on Thursday, including two in Guwahati, officials had said.
Two each were recovered in Sivasagar and Lakhimpur, and one each in Nagaon and Nalbari.
The other places where the outfit claimed to have planted the bombs are Dibrugarh, Tamulpur, Tinsukia and Golaghat districts. (PTI)
