M A I N   N E W S

‘Jehadi’ handiwork, says police
Tribune News Service

Guwahati , October 30
The Assam police suspects the blasts to be the handiwork of “jehadi” elements even as the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has denied its involvement in the act of terror.

Assam police intelligence chief Khagendra Nath Sharma told newspersons here today that preliminary investigations pointed at the involvement of “jehadi groups”. He, however, did not name any group, saying that fundamentalist and terrorist outfits usually worked in coordination and carried out their strikes.

“Guwahati has been always on the radar of jehadi groups. It was a design to create terror by killing innocent people. There are a few such groups active in the state”, he said.

Police sources informed that plastic explosives (PE-3) were used along with RDX explosives in today’s blasts. It was for the first time that PE-3 had been used in the Northeast.

Meanwhile, in a statement e-mailed to mediapersons,ULFA has firmly denied its involvement in the strikes. Central publicity cell member of the outfit Anjan Borthakur stated,” ULFA wants to clarify at the very outset that the organisation is in no way involved in triggering the serial blasts in the state today”.

However, Assam government spokesman Himanta Bishwa Sharma did not rule out the hand of ULFA.He said all fundamentalist groups and ULFA that were active here were controlled by the ISI and it would be too early to rule out the involvement of any group.

Meanwhile, the police today arrested a suspected “jehadi” from Salanaibari police station in Sonitpur district and seized explosives from him. He was identified as Mohammad Aziz-ur-Rahman.

Union cabinet reviews security situation
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 30
The Union cabinet today reviewed the overall security situation in the country in the wake of serial bomb blasts in Assam in which more than 60 people were killed.

At the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior ministers are understood to have expressed concern over the law and order situation in different parts of the country. It was felt that tough measures were needed to be taken to instill a sense of confidence among the people. The blasts in Assam have come at a time when the centre is grappling with violence against North Indians in Maharashtra.

Railways Minister Lalu Prasad has threatened to withdraw rail services from Maharashtra and other places where train passengers from North India have been targeted while Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has demanded the dismissal of the Maharashtra government.