Republic Day in India: separatists detonate nine bombs in Assam and Manipur
The bombs claimed by the United Liberation Front of Assam - Independent, which is fighting for the independence of the states of the Northeast. There were no casualties or damage, but the explosion could have caused a massacre. In Assam, a bomb detonated shortly after the passage of children.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - This morning, a separatist militant group detonated several bombs in the states of Assam and Manipur, while India celebrates Republic Day. The devices, seven in Assam and two in Manipur, have not caused damage to property or victims and injured. The act was claimed by the United Liberation Front of Assam - Independent (Ulfa-I), which has been fighting for the independence of states in northeast India for decades.
The sequence of explosions, all around 8 am (local time), suggests a well-organized plan. In Assam, three explosions occurred in Charaideo district, two in that of Sivasagar and Dibrugarh and Tinsukia respectively. Police report that they were IEDs, but they could have caused a massacre, especially in the Dibrugarh district where the bomb exploded shortly after the passage of school students marching in the parade. In Manipur, the two bombs exploded in Imphal East district, one of which is close to the state college.
Before the serial blasts, Paresh Baruah, the head of one of the factions of the separatist group, had called some television channels and announced protests against the celebrations for Republic Day. He, who probably is hiding in Myanmar, warned viewers not to participate in parades and not crowd the public places.
Other separatist groups have announced a boycott of the celebrations. In a joint statement, they said: " “As India’s celebration of Republic Day is a stark reminder of the colonization of the region by India, we ought to dissociate ourselves from it. We, the fraternal organizations, have decided that the region should collectively boycott the Indian Republic Day,”.
.png)
26/05/2007
