GUWAHATI, Aug 15: North-East militants calling for boycott of India's jubilee celebration of Independence, killed six persons, triggered bomb blasts and set ablaze three railway stations, as normal life in the major part of the region was hit by `public curfew', today.

In Assam four persons including a woman were killed, official reports said.The assistant station master of Panitola railway station in Dibrugarh district was charred to death when militants set ablaze the room he was sleeping in last night. Five others in the room managed to escape.

Suspected Bodo ultras also torched the Tihu railway station in Nalbari district and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, the Pathsala railway station.

Two persons were shot dead by Bodo militants at Doibari in Darrang district, while the body of a woman was recovered this morning from Bangalipara village in Kamrup district where Bodo ultras had an encounter with security forces last night.

In Tripura, two non-tribal women were killed and three of their family members injured by the heavily armed all Tripura tiger force. In Assam, the ULFA burnt down two offices of SDOs in Darrang and Dibrugarh districts, injuring a government employee.

In Nagaland, a small grenade, thrown from a hotel room, exploded minutes after Chief Minister S C Jamir concluded his Independence Day speech in Kohima. Another bomb went off near the Nagaland state transport complex. There was no casualty in either blast. A bridge over the the Morak Pagladiya river was blasted by the Bodo liberation tigers in Assam's Nalbari district early this morning, disrupting movement of traffic.

Attendance at Independence Day functions was poor following the six-hour `public-curfew', called by the ULFA from 6 am. However, 250 senior citizens took out a procession in Guwahati this morning in protest against violence.

Normal life was hit in almost all the places barring the two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and N C Hills where Independence Day celebrations were held, reports said. Miscreants set fire to the national flag at Fakiragram in lower Assam and at Jungolbolokagar under Raha police station in Nagaon district during the day.

In Guwahati few national flags flew from rooftops of private residences. Boycott, `peoples' curfew and bandhs called by the underground also hit life in Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya. Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh were the only two states where the celebrations were held peacefully.

Gupta allays Keishing's fears on Manipur

Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta has told Manipur Chief Minister Rishang Keishing that there is no question of the Centre taking any step that would affect the territorial integrity of Manipur.

In a fax message sent to Keishing yesterday, Gupta said ``there has been no discussion with Issac Swu (the NSCN (I-M) chairman) or with any one else on this issue.'' The Union Minister's message followed an earlier fax to Gupta by Keishing after a state cabinet meeting which took serious view on the reported statement of Swu that the Centre had accepted in principle to unify all Naga-inhabited areas with Nagaland state.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.