SIX DEAD AS VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN ASSAM

UNCLAS KOLKATA 000177 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PHUM KCRM ASEC IN BG SUBJECT: SIX DEAD AS VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN ASSAM REF: Kolkata 166 ¶1. On Sunday May 27 six persons were killed and over 25 injured in a blast, suspected to have been triggered by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) at Athgaon in the capital district of Guwahati in Assam. A time device planted in an auto-rickshaw parked in a busy area went off around 10.45 a.m. The police said an LPG cylinder being carried on a rickshaw also burst, adding to the impact of the explosion. Five persons died on the spot and another in hospital. The suspected ULFA is believed to have been targeting the non-Assamese or the Hindi-speaking people in the area. Athgaon is dominated by the Marwari and the Hindi-speaking community. ¶2. The blast came a day ahead of a public rally planned in capital city Guwahati by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi-led coalition government to celebrate completion of its one-year rule. Acting swiftly, the Central government rushed additional paramilitary forces to beef up security in Assam. In a separate incident on the same day, Government Railway Police personnel recovered a suitcase bomb at the Kokrajhar station. The bomb was fitted with two improvised explosive devices. Additional Director General of Police D.K. Pathak said that a routine checking of the train threw up the IEDs, kept in a suitcase and concealed in a gunny bag. ¶3. Members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) staged a demonstration on the day of the blast and the Guwahati city unit of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) observed a call a 12-hour peaceful strike on Monday, May 28. AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya, talking to the media said that the students' body would never tolerate such killings of innocents. He added that the students' body had always been opposing such kind of killings of innocents and for that members of the AASU had also faced threats. Journalist contacts in Assam told Post that the grieving families would never forgive the ULFA for this blast. At the hospital a relative of one of the injured said, "I would be too happy to co-operate with the police to apprehend the suspects, may be I would go a bit further than that~" ¶4. Comment: This latest blast in Assam continues ULFA's campaign of violence against non-Assamese. Given the security forces' inability to effecively respond to ULFA, more such attacks can be expected. However, the rising death toll of innocent civilians does risk undermining what support ULFA may have within Assam's broader community. End Comment. JUNGE