NEW DELHI, 3 October 2004 — As India observed the 135th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi who believed in a non-violent struggle for the country’s independence from colonial powers, a series of explosions rocked northeastern Assam and Nagaland states killing at least 49 people and wounding around 150.
Explosions and attacks rocked Assam throughout the day. Five bombs exploded in the evening at around 6 p.m., killing at least 26 people.
In lower Assam, militants struck terror in Dhubri and Chirang districts and in Bogaigaon, indulging in indiscriminate shooting at weekly markets and triggering explosions.
Eleven people were killed on the spot and at least four seriously injured, when heavily armed guerillas opened fire at a weekly market in Dhubri district in the evening. Another group opened fire on a truck going from Guwahati to Bihar, injuring three people inside the vehicle, sources said.
Two persons were killed when terrorists exploded a bomb at a busy market in Chirang district on the Indo-Bhutan border. The banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) group allegedly carried out the attacks in Assam.
Twin powerful explosions killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens in Nagaland’s commercial hub, Dimapur, 70 km from the state capital Kohima. The blasts occurred within minutes of each other. While the first occurred at a crowded railway station in Dimapur, the second went off in a market place.
At least 12 people were killed at the railway station and six at the market place, said C. Kuki, an inspector in the city’s police control room.
The toll could have been much higher but shopkeepers had just begun opening for yesterday’s popular “Hong Kong” market. “There weren’t too many shoppers around or the toll would have been much higher,” Kuki said.
An eyewitness said: “There are pieces of flesh and torn human limbs lying on the platform. There are people wailing.”
“It was a powerful blast, the tin roof of the railway platform has been blown off,” railway official Robin Kalita said.
