Bodo effort to cut off North-East from rest of India

The Bodoland Army has launched an operation to cripple the road communication in Assam and bombed three important bridges on national highways since Thursday night, official sources said.

The sources said the Bodo militants were making a calculated effort to strike simultaneously all over Assam to disrupt road traffic.

Two bombs exploded on both banks of the Brahmaputra river in lower Assam on Thursday night. The first blast, near Nathkuchi, was not powerful enough to seriously damage the bridge on National Highway 39, the most important link between the North-East and the rest of the country.

Within 15 minutes another bomb detonated on the southern bank at Dudhmoi in Goalpara district on National Highway 37, destroying a portion of the bridge.

The sources said the Bodo militants wanted to cripple both national highways, cutting off the North-East from the rest of the country. Their plan remained unsuccessful largely, due to their own tactical inadequacies, the source said. The Bodo militants again tried to disrupt traffic on Saturday when they blew up another bridge near Mangaldoi. Although the extent of the damage was not known, official reports indicated that vehicular traffic was badly disrupted.

The source also informed that militants might struck again on the southern bank to make smooth communication impossible for common man. Security has been intensified throughout the state. Measures have been taken to protect flyovers and bridges, sources said.

EARLIER REPORT:
Militants intensify activities in Assam