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Guwahati: A powerful bomb explosion near a train station in India's restive northeast killed three people including a toddler and wounded nine others yesterday, police said.
The bomb detonated at a motorised rickshaw stand outside the train station of Guwahati, capital of the insurgency-ridden state of Assam, said T. Rabha, a railway spokesman.
A man, his wife and 18-month-old son were killed, while nine others were wounded in the powerful blast, police officer Rajen Singh told The Associated Press.
The bomb went off shortly before the Rajadhani Express from New Delhi to Guwahati was to enter the station, Rabha said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Singh blamed the United Liberation Front of Asom or Ulfa - a separatist outfit that often targets government offices and public places - for the attack.
"We are convinced... that Ulfa rebels are behind the blast," Singh said.
Ulfa rebels, fighting for an independent homeland since its formation in 1979, have stepped up violence after the Indian government called off peace talks and a six-week temporary truce on September 24 and resumed military offensives.
Peace talks collapsed because the government refused to release five top rebel leaders who were detained. Since then, at least 23 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in violence blamed on the rebels. "The Ulfa appears desperate to prove its strength and force the government to initiate talks [on] their terms," said D.N. Bezboruah, an analyst based in Gauhati.
The group was also accused of carrying out a train bombing in neighbouring West Bengal state earlier this week. That explosion killed seven people and wounded 53 others.
Earlier this month, 16 civilians were killed and 50 others wounded in twin bomb explosions in Guwahati.
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