Ulfa claims responsibility for Sivsagar blast, denied hand in Dhala killing

The anti-talks faction of Ulfa has claimed responsibility for the blasts at Demow in Sivsagar district of Assam on Wednesday that left two people dead, but reiterated the group was not involved in the killing of five Hindu Bengalis at Dhala on November 1.

The Ulfa faction issued a statement on Saturday, saying "consequences are obvious for those who betray us."

Police had earlier stated that the militant outfit had demanded extortion from Kamal Agarwala, whose hardware store was targeted by the outfit.

The statement issued by the outfit's publicity and information secretary Arunodoy Asom said that while they targeted Agarwala, the customer was not their target.

The outfit, however, reiterated that they were not involved in killing of the five Hindu Bengalis at Dhala in Tinsukia district earlier this month. The outfit also asked the National Investigating agency (NIA) to make public the evidence of the faction's involvement behind the Dhala killing.

The NIA had recently submitted a preliminary investigation report saying that Ulfa is involved in the killing at Dhala.

--IANS

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