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DE RUEHCI #0177 1500211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300211Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1569
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1490
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0659
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0654
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON PRIORITY 0285
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RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0352
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDHP/DIA DHP-1 WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1932

UNCLAS KOLKATA 000177 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PHUM KCRM ASEC IN BG
SUBJECT: SIX DEAD AS VIOLENCE CONTINUES IN ASSAM 
 
REF: Kolkata 166 
 
¶1.  On Sunday May 27 six persons were killed and over 25 injured 
in a blast, suspected to have been triggered by the United 
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) at Athgaon in the capital 
district of Guwahati in Assam.  A time device planted in an 
auto-rickshaw parked in a busy area went off around 10.45 a.m. 
The police said an LPG cylinder being carried on a rickshaw also 
burst, adding to the impact of the explosion.  Five persons died 
on the spot and another in hospital.  The suspected ULFA is 
believed to have been targeting the non-Assamese or the 
Hindi-speaking people in the area.  Athgaon is dominated by the 
Marwari and the Hindi-speaking community. 
 
¶2.  The blast came a day ahead of a public rally planned in 
capital city Guwahati by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi-led 
coalition government to celebrate completion of its one-year 
rule.  Acting swiftly, the Central government rushed additional 
paramilitary forces to beef up security in Assam.  In a separate 
incident on the same day, Government Railway Police personnel 
recovered a suitcase bomb at the Kokrajhar station.  The bomb 
was fitted with two improvised explosive devices.  Additional 
Director General of Police D.K. Pathak said that a routine 
checking of the train threw up the IEDs, kept in a suitcase and 
concealed in a gunny bag. 
 
¶3.  Members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) staged a 
demonstration on the day of the blast and the Guwahati city unit 
of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) observed a call a 12-hour 
peaceful strike on Monday, May 28.  AASU advisor Samujjal 
Bhattacharya, talking to the media said that the students' body 
would never tolerate such killings of innocents.  He added that 
the students' body had always been opposing such kind of 
killings of innocents and for that members of the AASU had also 
faced threats.  Journalist contacts in Assam told Post that the 
grieving families would never forgive the ULFA for this blast. 
At the hospital a relative of one of the injured said, "I would 
be too happy to co-operate with the police to apprehend the 
suspects, may be I would go a bit further than that~" 
 
¶4.  Comment:  This latest blast in Assam continues ULFA's 
campaign of violence against non-Assamese.  Given the security 
forces' inability to effecively respond to ULFA, more such 
attacks can be expected.  However, the rising death toll of 
innocent civilians does risk undermining what support ULFA may 
have within Assam's broader community. End Comment. 
 
JUNGE