The banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Saturday denied its hand behind the series of explosions that rocked Guwahati, Nagaon, Dhubri areas in Assam during the last couple of days, killing five and injuring over 45 people. It, however, owned up to Friday night's explosions on oil and gas pipelines in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

The ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah in a statement e-mailed to the media raised an accusing finger towards the intelligence wing of Assam police, headed by the IGP Khagen Sharma, for triggering the explosions targeting innocent civilians to derail the peace initiative undertaken by the People's Consultative Group.

"As we had stated earlier, some vested interests were out to derail the peace initiative undertaken by the PCG. These forces always trigger blasts in the state when the PCG is preparing for talks with Government of India. Now that the next round talks between the PCG and government is slated for 22 June, the section of Assam police led by IGP Khagen Sharma detonated explosions targeting innocent people during last two days to defame the ULFA and derail the peace initiative," the ULFA leader stated.

The militant leader, however, confessed that it was the ULFA that exploded oil and gas pipelines in different places in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district late Friday night. He said it was done to 'showcase its commitment to prevent exploitation of natural resources of Assam and make mockery of security arrangement made by Assam police to safeguard those pipelines'.

The militant leader also warned at least four journalists, including two editors, against indulging in 'vilification campaign against ULFA 'on behalf of Indian occupational forces'.

Security sources, however, termed the ULFA leader's statement as an attempt to save the organisation's reputation in the wake of its attacks on innocent people the last couple of days.

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