Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Five killed, scores hurt as rebels bomb buses in India's northeast

US lists military deals, special ties with India



Five killed, scores hurt as rebels bomb buses in India's northeast


Posted: 27 August 2004 0139 hrs

GUWAHATI, India : Five people were killed and scores wounded in northeast India when militants blew up two buses, threw a grenade into a market and triggered twin blasts on a railway track, officials said.

The attacks in Assam state, and two others on Wednesday, were blamed on the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) which is fighting for an independent homeland.

Two people were killed and 33 wounded, some critically, when explosives concealed in a sack blew apart a crowded bus in the town of Gossaigaon, 270 kilometres (167 miles) west of Assam's main city of Guwahati, officials said.

"Passengers spotted an unidentified sack inside the bus and as they were trying to disembark, the explosion took place, blowing apart the vehicle," Kokrajhar district magistrate Asish Bhutani told AFP.

An hour later a bus belonging to the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and carrying soldiers and their families hit a landmine in Paikan, 140 kilometres west of Guwahati.

Two soldiers and a six-year-old girl, the daughter of a trooper going on holiday, were killed, police Inspector General Khagen Sharma said. Nine people were wounded.

Later Thursday a suspected ULFA militant on a motorbike threw a grenade into a busy market in Tangla, 60 kilometres north of Guwahati, police chief Khagen Sharma said.

"At least seven shoppers were critically wounded," said Sharma. The militant escaped.

Suspected ULFA militants also triggered two explosions late Thursday which injured three people and ripped up a railway track near an oil refinery in the heart of Guwahati's Noonmati area.

The first explosion ripped up seven metres (23 feet) of track, said Guwahati district magistrate Adsar Hazarika.

"An hour later a crowd had gathered at the railway blast site when a second bomb went off 20 metres (66 feet) away. A policeman, a photo journalist and a civilian were seriously injured," he added.

Sharma said the ULFA militants had planned the attacks and others in a desperate attempt to stay in the news. "The ULFA has rocked Assam with three blasts and two grenade attacks in the last 24 hours to grab headlines," he said.

"We have intercepted messages from ULFA militants regarding their plans to unleash terror in the state," he said.

On Wednesday suspected ULFA rebels threw a grenade outside a cinema in Dibrugarh, killing one person and wounding a dozen more.

They are also blamed for a blast on a railway track in Kokhrajhar district Wednesday which narrowly missed a goods train that had passed minutes before.

In the most deadly recent attack by suspected ULFA militants, 15 people were killed by a landmine on August 15, India's Independence Day.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday called for peace talks with ULFA and accused neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar of harbouring cadres of the group.

"The people of Assam want the ULFA to stop these barbaric attacks on civilians and come for negotiations," Gogoi said, adding, however, the rebels did not appear to be ready to talk.

"The ULFA it seems does not want to come for talks and the violent attacks are a pointer ... The ULFA has declared a war on the people of Assam and we cannot tolerate such cowardly attacks," he said.

"We want the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to crack down on ULFA camps located in their countries ... We have definite reports of the ULFA having bases inside these two neighbouring countries."

Bangladesh has denied the presence of Indian rebel groups in its territory. Myanmar has assured New Delhi that it will expel any Indian insurgents it finds.

Some 30 rebel outfits, including the ULFA, are waging insurgencies in India's northeast as they seek greater autonomy or independence. They say New Delhi exploits the region which is rich in oil, tea and timber.

More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency violence in the northeast since India's independence in 1947.

- AFP

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US lists military deals, special ties with India


By Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI, Aug 23: The United States said on Monday that new military ties with India was a key plank of its emerging policy in South Asia and listed an impressive catalogue of arms deals with New Delhi that would inevitably , even if apparently unintentionally, trigger a fresh round of concerns in Islamabad.

Speaking at the Army War College in Indore, US Charge d'Affaires Robert Blake said recent military cooperation with India included joint training in jungle and mountain warfare, and an offer to sell to New Delhi chemical and biological protection equipment.

Their common quarry was terrorism. "Those who attack our societies, be it in New York, in Washington, in Mumbai, in New Delhi, or in Jammu & Kashmir, must be stopped. We condemn all terrorist violence, and let there be no doubt, we are with you 100 per cent on this issue," Mr Blake declared.

To help promote regional stability in South Asia, the US and India meet regularly to discuss "mutual concerns" in Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.

"The US also supports continued efforts by India and Pakistan to better their relations," Mr Blake added. A copy of his remarks was made available by the US embassy.

"The relationship between our two countries transcends domestic politics, just as it did during the Clinton-Bush transition in 2001 and the BJP-Congress transition earlier this year," Mr Blake said, signalling a continuity of stable ties with New Delhi regardless of the party in power.

"Without doubt, military cooperation remains one of the most vibrant, visible, and proactive legs powering the transformation of US-India relations. This cooperation succeeds because of the Indian and US military establishments' mutual desire to move our relationship forward," the envoy said.

On the Indian side, there has been a tremendous effort to look to expand areas of mutual benefit, to look for partnerships, not antagonisms, and to look for regional collaboration, he observed. Mr Blake's list of military hardware - both sold and in the pipeline - was impressive.

In July 2003, two AN-TPQ/37 Firefinder counter-battery radars arrived and have been deployed in India. Two more radars, part of a 12 unit $190 million sales agreement under Washington's foreign military sales policy, will soon be deployed, having just completed their final quality testing.

The second major deal under negotiation is for the P-3 Orion naval reconnaissance plane. "US officials describe it as a "3C-plus" meaning the version that would be sold to India would be equipped with the latest avionics, including sensors and computerized command and control and weapons systems," Mr Blake said.

He added that India also plans to buy into the deep submersible rescue vessel (DSRV) system. Meanwhile, GE-404 engines for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) have already made their way here.

India will also buy $29 million worth of unique and special equipment to enhance the counter-terrorism capabilities of its special forces. They may also purchase chemical and biological protection equipment, he said.

He described as an area of great promise - and one that is of great strategic and commercial importance - the US-India Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative, or NSSP launched in January of this year.

This initiative will include expanded engagement on nuclear regulatory and safety issues and missile defence, ways to enhance cooperation in peaceful uses of space technology, and steps to create the appropriate environment for successful high technology commerce.



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