Guwahati: One person was killed and 16 others were injured in a powerful explosion on Tuesday in Assam, minutes before External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was to address an election rally close to the blast site, officials said.
A police spokesman said the bomb was planted on a parked motorcycle near a crowded marketplace in Lalganesh area of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"The explosion was powerful and shook the area killing one person on the spot and wounded 16 others including a child," police spokesperson Debojit Deuri said.
The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
"I was sitting inside a hotel near the blast site when I heard a loud explosion and immediately rushed out to find people scattered all over the place with blood splattered in the area," Bijoy Das, a witness, said.
No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
"We are investigating the case and it would be too early to say anything," Deuri said.
But other senior police officials blamed the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) for the attack. The ULFA is fighting for an independent homeland since 1979.
The blast took place one kilometre away from the place where Mukherjee was to address an election rally for Captain Robin Bordoloi, the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency candidate of the Congress party.
"Yes, terrorists could try and attack parts of India ahead of the elections but we are fully prepared to meet any challenge," Mukherjee told journalists in Guwahati minutes before the blast.
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