Saturday, September 30 2006 15:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Guwahati: Separatist guerrillas have blown up a natural gas pipeline in the northeastern state of Assam, the latest in a string of attacks after New Delhi called off a six-week ceasefire last week, officials said today (Sept 30, 2006).

A police spokesperson said militants suspected to be from the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) late Friday triggered a landmine explosion at a gas pipeline belonging to state-owned oil exploration company Oil India Ltd (OIL).

The incident took place near Salmari in Dibrugarh district, about 510 km east of Guwahati.

"It was a 10-inch gas distribution pipeline and our workers were on the job throughout the night to repair the damaged facility. The extent of the damage is yet to ascertained," OIL spokesperson Phanindra Dev Choudhury told sources from the company headquarters at Duliajan in eastern Assam.

ULFA rebels earlier Friday carried out a grenade explosion at a busy marketplace in eastern Assam's Tinsukia town and critically wounded six shoppers.

On Thursday, seven people, including two paramilitary troopers, were injured in another explosion by the rebels in the oil township of Digboi in eastern Assam.

The ULFA is stepping up attacks after New Delhi Sunday called off a six-week ceasefire and resumed military operations against the outfit.

Peace talks between ULFA representatives and the Indian government formally broke down last week after the People's Consultative Group (PCG), a civil society team appointed by the rebels to mediate for talks, pulled out of the peace process criticising New Delhi for calling off the truce.

The ULFA is a rebel group fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979. More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.