80 kgs RDX used in Guwahati blasts

Guwahati, Nov 3 (PTI) Nearly 80 kg of deadly Research Development Explosive (R.D.X.) was used in the October 30 serial blasts in Guwahati alone, officials said Monday as investigators worked on sketches of the suspects.

Forensic officials claimed that nearly 80 kg of R.D.X.
was used in the three Maruti cars planted at the three blast
sites in Guwahati. The blasts that took place in several parts
of the state claimed over 80 lives.

"Such large quantity of R.D.X. were never used to
carry out explosions in Assam before as Ammonium Nitrate, with
plasticers as propellants and Programmable Time Devices
(P.T.D.) were usually used to carry out a blast," said
Padmapani, the Joint Director in the Forensic Science
Laboratory here.

Each of the cars were laden with 25 to 30 kgs of
R.D.X. to carry out the blasts and a total of 75 to 80 kgs was
used to cause maximum damage, he said.

The officials said a maximum amount of explosives used
for a single blast in the state was 10 kg at Dhemaji during
the 2004 Independence Day which killed 13 people, including 10
school children.

Police have asked a Kolkata-based artist to prepare
sketches of suspects involved in the blasts based on the
eye-witnesses accounts.

The sketches are being prepared "in an organised
manner under police supervision" and it would take some time
to complete them, police said.

Police said that none of the earlier explosions were
so well coordinated and intricately planned as none of the
militant groups active in the state, including the United
Liberation Front of Asom (U.L.F.A.), has the expertise to make
bombs of such high intensity.

They said perpetrators must have engaged local people
to carry out the blasts as it would be difficult for outsiders
to procure vehicles and plant the bombs at selected places.

Meanwhile, the Special Investigating Team (S.I.T.)
under Inspector General of Police (I.G.P.) (Special Task
Force) R. Chandranathan has started investigations to
ascertain the identity of the culprits and claimed to have
received some vital leads in the case.

The team, however, declined to disclose them at this
stage as it could hamper further investigations.

Five persons have been arrested so far in connection
with the blasts.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had Sunday said Bangladesh
and Pakistan based insurgent outfits were involved in the
explosions.

Government spokesman Himanta Biswa Sarma had claimed
on the day of the blast that jehadi elements with the help of
U.L.F.A. had carried out the serial attacks. PTI DG
PMR