Fearing popular backlash, Assam government on Wednesday ordered judicial probe into the killing of three youths by the Central Industrial Security Force personnel at Geleki in Sivasagar district late Tuesday night.

The youths were fired upon by the patrol party of the CISF, which took them to be members of the banned ULFA that is on rampage in the state. The CISF is responsible for security to oil installations in the state.

Two of the youths, Dul Gogoi and Bhutu Gogoi, died on the spot while the third, identified as Arup Saikia, succumbed to injuries at the Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh. It was later established that the youths were not linked to the banned militant group.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who heads the counter-insurgency Unified Command structure, expressed his concern over the killings of the three innocent youths. In an official communiqué, Gogoi promised to punish the guilty persons responsible for killing of the youths.

He also announced Rs 5 lakh one-time compensation to the next of the kin of each of the slain youths and promised steps for rehabilitation their eligible family members.

Meanwhile, a major disaster was averted when police recovered a powerful bomb at Basugaon railway station in Kokrajhar district of western Assam on Wednesday morning. An Army bomb disposal squad later diffused the bomb.

The banned Ulfa militants also triggered an explosion at a bridge Pakharijan in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district early Wednesday morning.

No one was injured in the blast.

The overall situation in the blasts-rattled state remained tense.

In Guwahati, which has been targeted by the ULFA for triggering blasts, shopkeepers have been asked by the municipal authority to down their shutters during 5-30 to 7-30 pm every day for security reasons.