A powerful improvised explosive device was recovered on Thursday on railway tracks at Bijni in Chirang district of Assam on the eve of the 12-hour Assam bandh called by anti-talk faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam to protest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's day-long visit to Guwahati on Friday.
A police source informed that an IED weighing more than 3 kgs, two detonators and some fused wire were recovered at Maneswari, at a distance of about one kilometre from Bijni railway station during routine patrolling by a joint team of the Assam police and army personnel. The device was later defused.
Train services were temporarily suspended in the railway section as security personnel launched a massive combing operation on the railway tracks in the area apprehending presence of more such devices.
Meanwhile, security along the railway tracks has been tightened with several trains cancelled or rescheduled in view of the bandh call given by the ULFA. Pilot engines are being run as a precautionary measure ahead of long-distance trains running through the state. It is to prevent the ULFA to target trains to hog headlines in and around the PM's visit.
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