Three bombs exploded in the space of three hours as Home Minister P. Chidambaram arrived in Guwahati today. By late evening, five people had died and 35 were battling grievous injuries.

The last of the bombs exploded around 5.40 pm, about an hour before Chidambaram landed. The second bomb went off at Bhootnath, on the road the Home Minister took from the airport to the city. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to arrive in Guwahati on Friday or Saturday en route to Shillong to inaugurate the Indian Science Congress, which President Pratibha Patil too will attend.

The first attack of 2009, besides coming on the year’s first day and coinciding with VIP visits, followed a significant split in the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). The A and C companies of ULFA’s 28th Battalion broke away from the parent outfit earlier today, and declared itself to be the “pro-talk ULFA group”.

Sheikh Hasina’s victory in Bangladesh’s national elections too is bad news for ULFA. A day after winning the historic landslide, Hasina said she would not allow Bangladesh soil to be used for anti-India activities.

“We believe the blasts are the handiwork of ULFA. We had inputs that some members of ULFA’s 709 Battalion have sneaked into the city over the past few days. We have been on their trail for quite some time,” G M Srivastava, who took over as Assam DGP after the October 30 serial blasts, said.

At least 90 people were killed and over 300 injured in deadly bombings of Guwahati and four other Assam towns which police said were carried out by the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

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