Guwahati: One person was killed and more than 15 injured, when a blast rocked Guwahati’s busy Bamunimaidam region around noon yesterday. Police suspected the blast have been triggered by the criminalized United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).

The bomb kept in a three-wheeler delivery van went off at 11:45 a.m. in the busy Railway Colony market at Bamunimaidam under Chandmari police station area, leading to the explosion of three gas cylinders in the shops nearby. Various shops were emptied, and the windowpanes of nearby houses were broken into sharp pieces.

The three-wheeler, in which the bomb was kept hidden, was blustered to pieces. The vehicle had a sticker of the Indian airline on its body.

Additional Superintendent of Police Rajen Singh told the police forces were trying to determine the facts.

The cylinder explosions caused panic, and there was confusion about additional blasts. The dead person was identified as Ramlal Das (60), a cobbler from Begusarai in Bihar. There were heartbreaking scenes as the relatives of the sufferers collected at the site. The injured were admitted to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.

While pointing the finger of distrust at the ULFA, Mr. Rajen said, “It was a programmable time delay (PTD) device and must have been put into the delivery van in by some miscreant.”

Tarun Gogoi, Assam Chief Minister condemned the incident as an act of cowardliness and asked the Director-General of Police R.N. Mathur to review the security measures in and around the city and other parts of the State.