GUWAHATI
The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) on Sunday (January 26, 2025) claimed it carried out “token” low-intensity blasts to “send a message to occupational India” on Republic Day.
It claimed the improvised explosive devices were placed strategically across Assam to “not cause any harm to the people”. Low-intensity blasts were reported from two areas of Guwahati — one at a parking place in the Beharbari locality and the other near the Inter-State Bus Terminus.
“We cannot confirm whether the blast was caused by a bomb or anything else. The matter is under investigation,” an officer of the local police station said.
The ULFA(I), headed by the fugitive Paresh Baruah who is reportedly trying to shift his base back from the China-Myanmar border to a “friendlier” post-Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh, said it remote-controlled “multiple blasts” to merely remind the Indian government of what it was capable of doing on a larger scale.
“We executed low-intensity blasts intentionally keeping the safety of the people in mind. At the same time, the blasts were a message that we can break through the tightest of security rings and strike whenever we want to,” read a statement from “second lieutenant” Ishan Asom, the outfit’s spokesperson.
The ULFA(I) and other extremist groups in the northeast, active or disbanded, have often carried out subversive activities before or on Independence Day and Republic Day in pursuit of their secessionist goals.
The ghastliest of these activities was a bomb blast in eastern Assam’s Dhemaji town on August 15, 2004. The explosion killed 13 people, including 10 children, gathered at a field to celebrate Independence Day.
Published - January 26, 2025 01:14 pm IST
