Asia-Pacific

Separatists detonate series of blasts in NE India

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-26 00:44

GAUHATI, India: Suspected separatists detonated a series of bombs in India's troubled northeast Monday, with the first luring police commandos to the site and a second wounding two of the officers, police said. A third bomb nearby wounded two civilians.

The attacks followed a massive blast on a railway track Sunday near Deka Mising Gaon in northern Assam state, said Bhaskar Mahanta, Assam's inspector-general of police. The track was damaged but no one was hurt.

"It was a massive blast that damaged the track, missing the actual target, a passenger train," Mahanta said Monday.

The first blast Monday was in the capital of neighboring Manipur state, Imphal. A police officer said commandos responding to the attack were targeted in a second. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

A third bomb was then detonated in Nambol, a town 15 miles (25 kilometers) southwest of the city, leaving two civilians wounded, the officer said.

Even before the attacks, authorities were tightening across the country ahead of a national holiday.

Security in the capital of New Delhi and all other state capitals was stepped up before India's Republic Day on Tuesday, with additional police and paramilitary soldiers deployed to prevent militant attacks.

Several separatist groups in the country's restive northeast and in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have called general strikes for Republic Day, which marks the adoption of India's democratic constitution in 1950. The country gained freedom from British colonial rule in 1947.

Last week, the Indian government put all its airports on high alert amid reports that al-Qaida-linked militants planned to hijack a plane.

In Assam, railroad authorities said they have canceled all nighttime train services over the next three days.

In New Delhi, security forces set up roadblocks on some of the main roads. At least 15,000 additional police and paramilitary soldiers have been deployed in New Delhi, said Rajan Bhagat, spokesman for Delhi Police.

Security was tightened at all major government telecommunications and power installations, with frequent patrols and frisking and checking of employees. Snipers took up positions on government buildings in New Delhi, while many offices along the parade route were to be sealed off later Monday.