At least five persons were killed and 14 others injured when a powerful bomb exploded at Maligaon area in Guwahati today, setting off a blaze on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Assam.
Coming a day prior to ULFA's 'Raising Day', the bomb, suspected to have been planted in a car or a motorcycle in a parking lot adjacent to the Northeast Frontier railway headquarters near Maligaon Chariali, went off around 2:00 pm killing five on the spot, official sources said.
Several vehicles and two wheelers caught fire immediately after the explosion with fire-tenders arriving shortly afterwards.
Complete chaos prevailed in the area with people angered over repeated blasts in the city attacking the police and their vehicles.
Traffic was thrown out of gear with hundreds of vehicles stranded.
Nine of the injured were admitted to the nearby Sanjivani Hospital, two at the N F Railway hospital and rest to the Gauhati Medical College Hospital, the sources said.
The blast site was cordoned off by the security forces suspecting that there could be more bombs.