Five persons were injured, three of them seriously, when a bomb planted by a suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militant exploded inside the lobby of a private nursing home and diagnostic center in Sivasagar town of eastern Assam at around 2 pm on Thursday.

The police as well as the hospital authority informed that a young woman aged about 25 years came to the diagnostic center and left behind a bag in the lobby.

The explosive device planted inside the bag, which failed to raise suspicion in anyone's mind, about 30 minutes after the suspected woman cadre of the ULFA left the place.

Five persons were injured in the blast including three employees of the hospital.

Out of the three seriously injured, condition of Sanjay Kumar Deka was serious and had been referred to Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh.

Meanwhile, police recovered a powerful explosive device planted by suspected ULFA militants at a market in Upper Assam's railway town at Simaluguri by the bank of river Dikhow in Sivasagar district this morning.

An army bomb disposal squad later diffused the bomb at around 8-30 a m, a few hours after the bomb had been detected.