Blast in Assam refinery, ULFA claims responsibility

Guwahati, April 7 (IANS) An explosion rocked a refinery in Assam Saturday evening. The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) claimed responsibility for the blast in which no casualties were reported so far, police said.

The blast occurred inside the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Upper Assam's Golaghat district Saturday evening, police said.

In an e-mail statement sent to the media, ULFA claimed responsibility for the blast inside the NRL premises and said a state-of-the-art technical device - Magnetic Time Device (MTD) - was used to carry out the explosion.

The outfit also termed the blast as part of its regular protests against 'Indian exploitation' in Assam.

The blast, which led to a major fire at the hydro-cracker unit of the refinery, however, did not cause any casualty.

NRL's Manager (Corporate Communication) Madhuchanda Adhikari confirmed the incident to IANS.

"There was a fire at the hydro-cracker unit of the refinery at around 6.45 p.m. Saturday. We are yet to ascertain whether there was any blast, which led to the fire or the fire occurred due to some technical problem," Adhikari said adding that efforts were on to douse the fire.

The refinery is a group company of the public-sector Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

Saturday (April 7) is the anniversary of ULFA's Raising Day and the banned group had warned of major disruptive activities across Assam to mark the day.