Ten days before it goes to the polls and 24 hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to land in his home state, Assam was rocked by five explosions that left at least nine people dead and more than 60 others injured. Monday’s first blast in Assam was triggered at a bus stop at Maligaon on the outskirts of Guwahati at about 1.40 pm and killed eight people. More than 50 were injured. The police said the powerful explosion was caused by an IED planted either on a bicycle or a motorcycle. Cars and motorcycles parked nearby caught fire. Less than two hours later, a blast at a marketplace in Sonitpur district’s Dhekiajuli, injured three RPF men on poll duty. Here, too, the bomb was strapped to a bicycle. In the evening, ultras threw a grenade at Mancachar police station in Dhubri district, killing a constable. Later, an explosion rocked Karbi Anglong district, injuring two people. Gogoi condemned the blasts and said his government would crush the terror elements. Police and intelligence officials admitted that they had failed to revent the blasts. “It’s a failure on our part. We had intelligence inputs and launched a manhunt and released the photographs of two Ulfa cadres, but could not arrest them.. This one slipped through our hands. People may blame police but we’re not equipped to take on the growing threat of ultras, smugglers, killers and drug smugglers operating across the North-East,” an official said.
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