Guwahati, December 10
A seven-year-old boy was killed and 29 others injured, five of them seriously, when suspected militants of the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) lobbed two grenades, one at a crowded weekly market at Missamari and another at Rakshakmari near Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district of North Assam this afternoon.
Suspected NDFB militants hurled a grenade on an evening crowd at Rakshakmari, about 18 kms from Dhekiajuli town in the same district around 6 pm. SP Jitmol Doley said two persons were injured in the incident.
Deputy Inspector General (Northern Range) S N Singh confirmed that the suspected NDFB militants hurled a grenade amid the crowd at the Gorubandha weekly market at Missamari, about 35 kms away from Tezpur town in Sonitpur district around 3 pm.
He said a seven-year-old boy, who was identified as Anuj Kumar Gour, was killed in the blast while 27 others injured. Most of the injured were rushed to the civil hospital in district headquarter at Tezpur. Condition of five injured were stated to be critical.
The blast site is close to an Army base at Missamari and the local police station. The police and paramilitary forces have launched an operation in the area searching for the NDFB ultras.
Opposition political parties, including the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), have criticised the state government for failing to protect lives of common people against terrorists’ design.
Senior AGP leader Padma Hazarika said the security measures were not up to the mark though several militant groups were active in the district. The state government had sounded a statewide alert in the wake of December 4 arrest of chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander in chief Raju Baruah of the outlawed ULFA.
