BLAST KILLS 15 MOTHERS AND CHILDREN AT INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

August 15, 2004 - (AFP) At least 15 people, seven of them children, were killed when a bomb ripped through an Indian Independence Day parade in the revolt-hit northeastern state of Assa sm, officials and witnesses said.

Eight women who had brought their children to the college parade ground in remote Dhemaji, 460 kilometres (285 miles) east of state capital Guwahati, were also among the dead, police inspector general Khagen Sharma said.

Twenty-one others were wounded in the massive explosion which happened as the event was about to start, he told AFP by telephone.

None of Assam's various insurgent outfits claimed responsibility for the attacks but police said they believed the region's United Liberation Front of Asom separatist group was behind them.

Many of the dead were school and college students who came to take part in the parade, district magistrate M.C. Sahu said, adding, "We have rushed those injured to hospital."

Local officials reported scenes of mayhem after the blast.

"There was total panic with people running all over the place crying for help," Jatindra Nath, a government official who was at the parade ground, said by telephone from Dhemaji.

"I could see scores of people profusely bleeding and lying on the ground."

There was another blast at a parade ground in the nearby town of Dhakuakhana but no one was hurt, police said.

The attacks came a day after militants hurled a grenade inside a cinema in the Assam town of Gauripur, killing one person and seriously injuring 19.

The attack triggered protests in Dhemaji, the district magistrate said. "People are very agitated and we're trying to restore order. The army and the police are also here to help us."

The blast came as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered during a speech marking Independence Day to hold talks with militants groups that have renounced violence.

Violence has marred Independence Day and the run-up to the event in the northeast in past years, with rebels striking key installations such as oil pipelines, trains, road and rail bridges, besides targeting federal soldiers.

The myriad rebel outfits seeking secession, greater autonomy or independence in six of India's seven northeastern states had called for a boycott of the annual celebrations.

Militants in the insurgency-hit northeast have for years boycotted the Independence Day celebrations to protest against New Delhi's rule in the region which is rich in oil, tea and timber.

There are at least 30 rebel armies operating in the northeastern states.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to the insurgency in the northeast since India's independence in 1947.

From: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/101032/1/.html