The government said on Monday that it suspected the United Liberation Front of Asom was behind the twin blasts that rocked Guwahati on Sunday night and claimed 13 lives. Union Home Secretary V K Duggal has left for Assam to take stock of the situation.
Duggal, who chaired a high-level meeting to review the security scenario in the state, told reporters, "So far there is no confirmation but we suspect that ULFA was behind the blasts."
This was the first major attack by the ULFA ever since the banned group nominated Peoples' Consultative Group for peace negotiations with the Centre in October 2005.
Duggal said the situation in Assam was fully under control and adequate security personnel were deployed across the state.
"I have spoken to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Chief Secretary S Kabilan, who are constantly monitoring the situation. A security review meeting is also being held in Guwahati," he said.
Duggal parried a question whether such blasts would affect the ongoing peace process in the state, saying 'one cannot achieve the desired goal by killing innocent people. In such case we will have to take appropriate action'.
The Home Secretary said, "The government is 100 percent for peaceful negotiations." He added that they had invited the ULFA leadership for talks, response of which was yet to be received.
"We are for talks with the ULFA. We have given invitation to them. They are supposed to send the list of representatives," he said.
Duggal, who left for Guwahati to take stock of the situation in Assam, will attend a security review meeting on Tuesday.
Besides Duggal, top security officials, including director general of military operations, director general of military intelligence, director general of CRPF, attended Monday's meeting, which reviewed the security scenario in the state.
In a major strike after a long lull, suspected ULFA insurgents set off the two blasts in quick succession on Sunday night, killing 13 people and wounding 50 others, 15 of them seriously, in the busy Fancy Bazaar and Noonmati areas of Guwahati.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who arrived in Delhi on Sunday evening, rushed back to the state Monday morning. Gogoi told PTI on Sunday night that 'initial investigation reports suggest that the blast could be the handiwork of ULFA'.
