New Delhi - At least 18 people were wounded when three blasts struck Guwahati, the main city of India's north-east Assam state Thursday, news reports said.

The first blast took place in the Birubari, a residential area at 2:30 pm (0900 GMT), injuring two people, the NDTV network reported.

The explosion was followed by another blast in a vegetable market in the Bhutnath area at 5:15 pm (1145 GMT), wounding another 12 people.

There was a third blast at the upmarket Bhangagarh area outside a shopping mall half an hour later where at least four people were injured, police told the news channel.

The blasts occurred ahead of a visit by Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to the state.

Police said that low-intensity explosives were used in the bombings but they were yet to determine who was behind the attacks.

"There was a big blast and we saw a big fire when we went outside," Mukesh, a mall manager who uses only one name, told the NDTV. "Hawkers and vegetable vendors ran helter-skelter, shouting and screaming."

The bombings come two months after the state witnessed the worst terrorist bombings in its history - over 90 people were killed and over 300 injured in the attacks on October 30.

Indian security agencies said they suspected the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) of having carried out the bombings with help from Bangladesh-based Islamic militant outfit Harkat-ul- Jehadi Islami (HuJI). (dpa)