Scores killed as bombs hit Indian state

2008-10-31  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A SERIES of coordinated blasts tore through India's volatile northeast yesterday, killing at least 61 people, wounding more than 300 others and setting police on a frantic search for any unexploded bombs.

The largest blast was near the office of the Assam state's top government official, leaving bodies and mangled cars and motorcycles strewn across the road.

Bystanders dragged the wounded and dead to cars that took them to hospitals and morgues. Police officers covered the burned remains of many of the dead with white sheets, leaving them in the street.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blasts that went off within minutes of each other, but the region is torn by dozens of militant separatist groups that have long fought the government and one another.

At least 61 people died in the blasts, including 31 killed in five explosions in the state capital Gauhati, said Subhash Das, a senior official in the state's Home Ministry. At least 19 people were killed in blasts in Kokrajhar district and 11 others in the town of Barpeta, he said.

More than 300 people were injured in the 13 blasts, he said.

The largest blast took place a few hundred meters from the secretariat, the building housing the offices of the state's chief minister.

N.I. Hussain, Gauhati's deputy inspector general of police, told the CNN-IBN news channel that police in the state were on high alert and searching for more unexploded bombs and grenades.

"There may be more blasts - you never know," he said.

Later, dozens of people angry over the blasts took to the streets of the state capital, stoning vehicles and torching at least two fire engines. Police imposed a curfew on the city.