Guwahati: At least one person was killed and 37 others injured as ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) militants struck again this morning (Aug 26, 2004) with a bomb explosion in a bus in Assam's Kokrajhar district, official sources said.

The bus, which was on its way to Cooch Behar in North Bengal from Sapotgram in Dhubri had stopped at the Gossaigaon weekly market when the helper spotted an unclaimed object and raised an alarm, official reports reaching in Guwahati said.

But before the police from nearby could rush to the spot the bomb went off killing 16-year old boy Ranjit Singh and injuring 37 others, mostly bus passengers who were having breakfast in a roadside hotel.

The police had earlier said National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants were involved in the explosion but later confirmed that it was the handiwork of ULFA militants since NDFB, which was mainly active in Kokrajhar district, has negligible presence in the area.

The casualty in the incident could have been more as the bus was overcrowded but fortunately at the time of the powerful explosion most of the passengers had alighted from the bus for breakfast.

The injured were admitted to Kokrajhar civil hospital were the condition of some of them was stated to be serious, the sources said. This morning's explosion came close on the heels of last night's (Aug 25, 2004) incident when ULFA militants threw a hand grenade in front of a cinema hall in Dibrugargh township in which nine persons had been injured and later one succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.