Seven die in Indian market blast

A bomb went off in a crowded market in Gauhati, the main city of India’s restive north-east today, killing seven people and injuring 18, an official said.

The explosives were packed in a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw, said CK Bhuyan, a district administrator in the state of Assam.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, said Bhuyan.

Several separatist groups have been fighting since 1979 for an independent homeland in Assam.

Peace talks between one of the groups, the United Liberation Front of Asom, and the Indian government broke down in September last year after a six-week truce.

ULFA responded with violence, killing more than 70 Hindi-speaking migrant workers across Assam.

The rebels say Assam’s indigenous people, most of whom are ethnically closer to Myanmar and China than to the rest of India, are ignored by the federal government in New Delhi, some 1,600km (1,000 miles) to the west.

They also accused the government of exploiting the north-east’s rich natural resources.