Six people were injured, one of them critically, when a powerful blast took place in a parking lot in the busy AT Road in Guwahati at around 12.55 pm today. The blast, believed to have been triggered off by the ULFA, coincided with President A P J Abdul Kalam’s stopover in the city before winding up his three-day trip to the four North-Eastern states. A dozen motorbikes were also damaged.

The explosion also coincided with the ULFA’s “army day” today. In a message, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa indicated that there was no scope for abjuring violence.

“The Government of India’s precondition that ULFA has to abjure violence is nothing but a wicked conspiracy to condone their own repressive state violence. The ULFA is not doing anything illegal by resorting to armed struggle against colonial injustices to restore rights of the people. This is in fact a solemn responsibility of the sons and daughters of Assam,” Rajkhowa said in a statement e-mailed to media offices.

Paresh Barua, the ULFA’s armed wing chief said there was possibility that another Bhutan-type operation would be launched by the government sooner or later. “There is no certainty that incidents like Bhutan will not be repeated. So we must be prepared to resist,” he said in an appeal to the ULFA cadres, a copy of which was also sent to newspapers.