Fire in refinery, Ulfa claims hand

GUWAHATI: A major fire broke out at Numaligarh refinery in Golaghat district on Saturday, evening. Though the reason of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, the Paresh Baruah faction claimed responsibility.
There was an explosion which triggered a massive fire inside the refinery at 6.40 pm. Though security officials said it is highly unlikely that Ulfa hardliners triggered the blast, the Paresh Baruah faction owned up to the incident saying that a magnetic timer device was used for the eexplosion.
Ulfa hardliners' central publicity wing member Joy Asom said, "This is part of our armed exercise against Indian government's exploitation policy in Assam. Like we said earlier, no government installation is out of Ulfa's reach. No matter how much security is in place, we are always capable to strike. Ulfa used a magnetic timer device to trigger the explosion like the ones in Duliajan and Noonmati."
It may be mentioned here that the Union ministry of home affairs and Dispur had sounded an alert following inputs that the outfit may strike in vital installations in upper Assam on this day. SP (Golaghat) Rafiul Alam Laskar said, "The unit is under security for 24 hours. We have to find out how the fire could have broken out there."
Though Ulfa claimed responsibility in the other two fires in Duliajan and Noonamti, investigation later confirmed that both the incidents were caused either by some technical fault or malfunctioning of machines.
A Numaligarh refinery official said a team will investigate the fire. Other employees said it was an industrial accident and only an investigation can confirm it.