Major disaster was averted on Friday with security forces gunning down a tribal separatist bomber in the heart of Assam's main city Guwahati, exactly a year after the state was rocked by serial blasts in which about 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded.
A police spokesperson said the shootout took place early Friday at the Bamunimaidam daily market in Guwahati in which an outlawed militant of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) was killed.
"Based on specific intelligence inputs that a group of about four to five NDFB militants were planning to plant explosives at the market, we stepped up vigil and found the group and soon there was an encounter," a senior police officer said.
There was a heavy gunfight in which one of the NDFB bombers was killed.
"The others managed to escape taking cover the darkness as the time of the encounter was just before dawn," the officer said.
Police recovered a pistol and explosives from the dead NDFB militant.
"Definitely the NDFB group was on a mission to strike once again to make their presence felt and mainly to coincide with last year's Oct 30 serial blasts," the officer said.
{{/usCountry}}"Definitely the NDFB group was on a mission to strike once again to make their presence felt and mainly to coincide with last year's Oct 30 serial blasts," the officer said.
{{/usCountry}}Last year Oct 30, nine near simultaneous explosions rocked the state in four districts - three in Guwahati, three in Kojrajhar, two in Barpeta, and one in Bongaigaon.
The NDFB, fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribes people, is blamed for the Oct 30 serial bombings.