[Napuljun]

At least two people have been killed and more than 30 injured in a bomb explosion in the north-east Indian state of Assam.
Police say the explosion took place on a bus that was going from Assam's western town of Dhubri to Cooch Behar in the neighbouring West Bengal.

Doctors say the toll could rise as the condition of some of the victims is serious.

It is not clear who has carried out the attack.


The explosion ripped through the passenger bus as it was passing the town of Gossaigaon, 270 kilometers (167 miles) west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

"Passengers spotted an unidentified sack inside the bus and as they were trying to disembark, the explosion took place, blowing apart the vehicle," a local official, Asish Bhutani, told the AFP news agency.

Rebel hand?

Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on separatist rebels and police say they could have carried out this one as well.

"It is possible that Ulfa [United Liberation Front of Assam] militants had left a timed device inside the bus," Assam's Inspector General of Police Khagen Sharma told the Associated Press.

Eighteen people, mostly women and children, were killed in a bomb explosion in the town of Dhemaji during an Independence Day march earlier this month.

Police blamed the attack on one of Assam's eight separatist groups.

Rebels in Assam have been fighting for independence since 1979 in a struggle which has claimed more than 10,000 lives.


The United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) had called for a boycott of Independence Day events.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3600298.stm