"One cannot achieve the desired goal by killing innocent people. We will have to take appropriate action," Union Home Secretary V K Duggal, who chaired a high-level meeting of senior army officials and bureaucrats, told reporters before leaving for Assam where he would take stock of the situation arising after the twin blasts that left 13 people dead so far.
To a question about the identity of the group behind the twin blasts, Duggal said so far there was no confirmation but certain leads suggested that ULFA was behind the attacks.
The blasts came weeks after the talks between the Centre and ULFA-nominated Peoples' Consultative Group failed to take off, as the banned group didn't give the list of its representatives to hold direct parleys with the Government. The Home Secretary parried a direct reply to a question whether the blast would have its impact on efforts to hold direct talks with the ULFA and repeated the stand of the Centre that "the government is 100 per cent for peaceful negotiation" and it had given invitation to ULFA leadership for talks, a response to which was awaited.
About the situation in Assam, he said things were under control. "I have spoken to the Chief Minister (Tarun Gogoi and the Chief Secretary (S Kabilan), who are constantly monitoring the situation," he said.