Bombs kill 5, wound 26 in Guwahati

By Biswajyoti Das

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and 26 wounded when suspected separatist militants set off three bombs in Guwahati on Thursday, police said.

The first bomb was found in a dustbin in a heavily populated residential area, but went off at around 1.45 pm (0815 GMT) before a disposal squad could defuse it, police said.

Two other improvised explosive devices planted on bicycles exploded in the late afternoon, one of them near a crowded shopping mall, the other at a street market, police said.

"I saw two men come and park the bicycle here, and then they rushed away from the place," said a young woman who gave her name only as "Begum", who had been at the market.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police pointed a finger at the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the major separatist group in the oil- and tea-rich state often blamed for attacks. They said they had identified the suspects after receiving specific intelligence information.

"ULFA is behind this blast. We have inputs and we will very soon apprehend them (the suspects)," G.M. Srivastava, Assam's police chief, told reporters at one of the attack sites.

The blasts hit Guwahati before Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram arrived in the state for a security review on Thursday.