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At least four personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed and over 30 injured when suspected militants from the banned United Liberation Front of Assam triggered a blast under a bus that was carrying CRPF personnel through Bhalukdubi Reserve Forest at Solmari in Goalpara district of western Assam on Friday morning.
An official source informed that the CRPF personnel were travelling back to their base from attending a morning drill at Agiya when the IED went off under their bus.
The injured CRPF men were rushed to hospital while police and CRPF have launched a combing operation in the area.
An ULFA spokesman, identified as Anu Buragohain, called up a local television channel in Guwahati claiming responsibility for the blast.
The blast has been timed when the government has initiated a process to facilitate talks with ULFA top leaders including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa now lodged in jail, and is being construed as an attempt by the anti-talks faction of the ULFA to derail the nascent peace process.
Central government interlocutor for peace talks with the insurgent groups in Assam P C Haldar met top ULFA leaders in Guwahati jail last week. Haldar termed the encounter with ULFA leaders as an ice-breaking effort.