Four blasts rock Assam, no casualties

The police say there were two blasts each at Gauripur and Bongaigaon in western Assam at around 9 am.

Four explosions rocked Assam on Independence Day on Wednesday although there were no casualties reported, officials said.

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A police spokesperson said there were two blasts each at Gauripur and Bongaigaon in western Assam at around 9 am - all the explosions occurred around the same time.

Two blasts took place in the heart of Gauripur town in Dhubri district, about 280 kms west of Guwahati.

"Both were crude bombs and planted near a pond. There were no people around that area when the explosions took place," police official S Rabha said over telephone from Gauripur.

There were two more blasts in Bongaigaon town, about 220 kms west of Guwahati, minutes after state Education Minister Ripun Bora unfurled the national flag. The blast site was, however, not very close to the Independence Day parade ground.

"Both the bombs were planted beneath the ground. There were no casualties," a police official said.

There has been a wave of separatist attacks in Assam in the run-up to Independence Day in which 36 people were killed, 28 of them being Hindi-speaking migrant workers.