Cornered ULFA strikes, 20 killed in I-Day blast

The blast occurred at 8.55 a.m., just when MC Sahu, the district deputy commissioner, had arrived in the Dhemaji College ground to hoist the national flag at the official Independence Day function.

Eyewitness Lila Phukan, a local school teacher, told The Indian Express over the telephone that the impact of the blast was so big that it threw children gathered to perform a cultural show several metres above the ground.

‘‘There was a deafening sound, smoke and dust all around and there was total chaos. All hell seemed to break loose,’’ Phukan, who was in a state of shock six hours after the incident, said. ‘‘I also saw flesh and limbs hanging from branches of trees,’’ said Phukan.

He said once the people realised that the explosion occurred inside the high-security compound of the Dhemaji College that was sanitised by the police for the official function, they went into a frenzy and attacked the police and government officials.

Two police vehicles were completely damaged, while angry crowd also tried to attack state Home Minister Rockybul Hussain’s vehicle soon after he reached Dhemaji by an army helicopter.

The chopper later moved six of the seriously injured to the Assam Medical College Hospital at Dibrugarh, south of Dhemaji across the Brahmaputra.

Describing the incident as an act of cowardice, Chief Minister Gogoi condemned the ULFA in the strongest of words, but not before admitting that a serious security lapse led to the blast.

‘‘There was definitely some serious security lapse. There were intelligence reports that the ULFA would create trouble during Independence Day. We have already placed the district SP and additional SP under suspension,’’ Gogoi said. He also announced a high-level inquiry headed by Additional Chief Secretary PC Sharma.

Among those killed were sisters Aruna Saikia (10) and Rupa Saikia (7), head boy of Class XII of Dhemaji Higher Secondary School Manjit Gogoi (18) and a six-year-old boy, who had come to witness the Independence Day function with his aunt Dhanada Gogoi, a school teacher.

Chief minister Gogoi, who announced Rs 3 lakh to the next of kin of each person killed in the incident, will visit Dhemaji tomorrow.

The ULFA carried out two more attacks on venues of official I-Day functions elsewhere in the state, but there were no casualties. At Dhakuakhana, about 25 km from Dhemaji, a powerful explosion rocked the venue at least two hours before the function began.

In Dhubri in lower Assam, a blast at about 1:30 pm injured a labourer who was dismantling the I-Day function pandal.

The opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) held the Congress government in the state responsible for serious security lapses.

‘‘The government is equally responsible for the incidents that occurred in official functions where security is supposed to be foolproof,’’ said AGP president Brindaban Goswami, who also condemned the ULFA for the incident.

The Dhemaji Assembly constituency has been a stronghold of the AGP since 1985 with party general secretary Dilip Kumar Saikia winning four times from there.