Assam SOS to Centre: Get Bangla, Myanmar to do a Bhutan soon

Gogoi told Patil that the ‘‘Centre must take up the issue (of militant safe havens) with Bangladesh and Myanmar and ensure that the camps are immediately dismantled as was done in Bhutan last December.’’

Mooting the idea of a coordination committee among all North East states to tackle the problem of insurgency, Gogoi urged the Centre to be the coordinator of the committee.

Patil, on his part, assured him that the Centre would soon try to put in place a long-term strategy to tackle the problem.

After holding talks with Gogoi in Guwahati, Patil travelled to Dimapur, Nagaland’s commercial hub, and visited the sites where powerful blasts yesterday killed at least 26 people.

Suspected NDFB militants struck again in Assam today, killing at least 13 persons in as many attacks. While five persons were killed in a busy market place at Gauripur in Dhubri district bordering Bangladesh this evening, the NDFB had lost at least seven members since yesterday.

Reports of blasts and grenade explosions were coming in from the districts of Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Morigaon, Chirang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Sibsagar, Karbi Anglong, Kamrup and Nalbari, with the ULFA too moving in.

In Kakopathar in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam, suspected ULFA militants lobbed a grenade at a truck carrying Army personnel, injuring six.

The ULFA also blew up a gas pipeline last night near Sonari, disrupting supply to Namrup and Lakwa power stations.

In Dhekiajuli, also in Darrang district, suspected NDFB cadres exploded a bomb in a weekly haat today, which left one person dead and 15 others injured. At Baska too, a similar explosion in a village market left six persons injured, official sources said.

Meanwhile, the number of persons killed in yesterday’s indiscriminate firing by suspected NDFB militants at Makrijhar market in Dhubri district today went up to 16. All the victims belonged to the minority community. The All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) called for a bandh in the district today.

It was only on Thursday that chief minister Gogoi had offered the ULFA and NDFB a ceasefire by October 15, provided the two outfits responded in a similar manner.

But the series of violent incidents that have rocked Assam and Nagaland since yesterday is a clear indication that the outfits were not interested in opening negotiations with the government.

A local newspaper in Guwahati today quoted a telephone caller — he claimed to be ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua — as saying that the outfit was not interested in Gogoi’s offer.

‘‘Any ceasefire offer with a written assurance of a discussion on sovereignty must come from the Government of India,’’ the newspaper quoted Barua as saying.