Violence erupted across India's restive northeast region on October 2, claiming at least 44 lives, while over 100 people were wounded in eight different incidents in Nagaland and Assam, according to Indo-Asian News Service (IANS). At least 26 people were killed and 86 wounded as three deafening bombs Saturday ripped through Dimapur town in Nagaland in the worst such terror attack in the state. In neighboring Assam, 18 people were killed and 25 others wounded in four bomb blasts and a rebel attack, officials said. The rebel attack was in western Assam's Dhurbi district, where 11 people were gunned down in a marketplace.

Assam Inspector General of Police Khagen Sarma said these killings could be the handiwork of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which celebrates its 18th foundation day Sunday.

"Probably the NDFB was trying to make its presence felt in the region by striking at innocent civilians," he said. As the Dimapur railway station and two markets presented a gory sight with torn limbs and splattered blood, security officials could not recall when in the past a similar bomb attack had taken place in Nagaland.

The authorities said the terrorists had used RDX, a lethal plastic explosive, in all three attacks in Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub located some 70 km from the state capital Kohima. Dimapur is where the top leaders of both factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) live. It is home to Nagaland's only railhead and is linked by train to Assam. The three blasts took place in Nagaland simultaneously, and the railway station tragedy accounted for at least 11 fatalities.

"The condition of many of those injured is said to be very critical and the death toll could go up," Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio told IANS by telephone from Dimapur. The chief minister who arrived in Dimapur from Kohima, visited the injured and went to the blast sites before ordering a probe to ascertain who could be behind the explosions.

"We have set up a high powered committee to investigate the blasts and submit its report within 10 days," Rio said.

"We are not pointing our fingers at anybody. But the involvement of foreign forces working in the northeast is not ruled out."Nagaland's additional police chief V. Peseyie said RDX had beenused in the blasts.

"We found a briefcase along with fuse wires and, according to our preliminary investigations, it was RDX with a timer device fitted," Peseyie said.

The chief minister described the blasts as the "worst terroristattacks" in Nagaland."This is the worst ever terrorist strike and the people of the state are yet to come to terms," Rio said. "The idea is to sabotage and derail the peace process going on in Nagaland." The scene at local hospitals and the railway station was one of total chaos.

"I saw human limbs strewn all over the place in the railway station and blood splattered in the platform," T. Zheviho, a tribal student leader in Dimapur said. The two NSCN groups, one led by S.S. Khaplang and the other headed by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, have condemned the triple blasts.

"We condemn the blasts and strongly believe it to be the handiwork of anti-Naga forces trying to derail the peace process," Kraibo Chawang, spokesman of the NSCN (IM) group said."We are close to establishing the group behind the blasts and shall make our stand known shortly."

The NSCN (Khaplang) group, however, blamed the rival Isak-Muivah faction of masterminding the blasts.

"Our information says cadres of the Isak-Muivah group have triggered the blasts," NSCN (K) leader Seocham Sangtam said. Doctors at the hospital say they were finding it difficult to cope with the situation.

"Many of the injured have come with multiple wounds in their faces and abdomen," T. Lotha, a doctor in Dimapur, said.

"Some of them are in a state of shock and absolute trauma. We are trying our best to cope with the situation although we have never come across this kind of an emergency situation of such a magnitude."

In Assam's main city of Guwahati, a police spokesman said unidentified militants opened indiscriminate gunfire on a crowded marketplace in village Makrijhora in the western Dhubri district, about 290 km from Guwahati. The incident took place around 5.30 p.m. "A group of gunmen came and sprayed bullets on roadside shoppers, killing at least 11 people and wounding eight more," Dhubri police chief L.R. Bishnoi told media. The same group then killed four people a few km away in a forest.

Two people died in a grenade attack in the adjoining Bongaigaon district, 220 km from here. "There was one more blast that damaged a roadside hotel in Bongaigaon but no one was hurt," a police official said.On Saturday morning, one person died and seven were wounded in an explosion in the Chirang district in western Assam. Two more blasts were reported in Baihata Charali and Abhyapur Saturday night.

"Three policemen were wounded in the blast in Baihata Charali and we are yet to get details of the Abhyapur incident," the official said.

More than 25,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Nagaland since India's independence in 1947.About 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.

Source: Xinhua