Rebels kills two, blow up oil pipelines in India
GUWAHATI, India, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A powerful rebel group in India's northeast carried out a series of bombings on Sunday, killing two policemen and blowing up oil pipelines, police said.
They said guerrillas of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were behind the attacks which came four days before the nation celebrated its Republic Day, which the rebels want to boycott with a general strike in the region.
The guerrillas hurled grenades at security personnel in the state's main city Guwahati, killing one policeman, and triggered explosions at about nine oil and gas pipelines which caught fire and disrupted supplies to the state's four refineries, police said.
The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland in the oil-and-tea-rich Assam state. It blames New Delhi for taking away the region's mineral resources without helping develop the region.
India celebrates Republic Day on Jan. 26, marking its founding as a republic in 1950 with parades in major cities showcasing its military might and cultural diversity.
"The refineries have enough stock to run for a week, but if they carry out more attacks on pipelines in coming days it will definitely affect our operations," said a senior official of Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), which owns the refiners.
Rebels killed another policeman in a gun battle in central Assam on Sunday evening.
"The attacks are the handiwork of the ULFA. Reinforcements have rushed to several areas of the state to tighten security and catch the militants," Khagen Sharma, Assam's inspector general of police, told Reuters in Guwahati.
Last week, the ULFA's military commander, Paresh Barua, said the group had demanded about $113 million from the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC).
He warned that similar demands on other government oil companies in the state would soon follow.
India's seven northeastern states are home to more than 200 ethnic and tribal groups and are beset by at least two dozen other insurgencies.
In 2004, at least 22 people, many of them children, were killed and dozens wounded in bomb and grenade attacks during Independence Day ceremonies in the region, which authorities blamed on the ULFA.
They said guerrillas of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) were behind the attacks which came four days before the nation celebrated its Republic Day, which the rebels want to boycott with a general strike in the region.
The guerrillas hurled grenades at security personnel in the state's main city Guwahati, killing one policeman, and triggered explosions at about nine oil and gas pipelines which caught fire and disrupted supplies to the state's four refineries, police said.
The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland in the oil-and-tea-rich Assam state. It blames New Delhi for taking away the region's mineral resources without helping develop the region.
India celebrates Republic Day on Jan. 26, marking its founding as a republic in 1950 with parades in major cities showcasing its military might and cultural diversity.
"The refineries have enough stock to run for a week, but if they carry out more attacks on pipelines in coming days it will definitely affect our operations," said a senior official of Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), which owns the refiners.
Rebels killed another policeman in a gun battle in central Assam on Sunday evening.
"The attacks are the handiwork of the ULFA. Reinforcements have rushed to several areas of the state to tighten security and catch the militants," Khagen Sharma, Assam's inspector general of police, told Reuters in Guwahati.
Last week, the ULFA's military commander, Paresh Barua, said the group had demanded about $113 million from the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC).
He warned that similar demands on other government oil companies in the state would soon follow.
India's seven northeastern states are home to more than 200 ethnic and tribal groups and are beset by at least two dozen other insurgencies.
In 2004, at least 22 people, many of them children, were killed and dozens wounded in bomb and grenade attacks during Independence Day ceremonies in the region, which authorities blamed on the ULFA.
posted by Marko at 1/22/2006 04:41:00 PM
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