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ULFA devastates oil refinery in Assam

AFP, Guwahati
Tribal rebels devastated one of the world's oldest oil refineries yesterday in a series of coordinated attacks in the eastern Indian state of Assam, officials said.
Flames leapt more than 100 meters high after the mortar attack around midnight (1830 GMT Friday) at the century-old Digboi Refinery, 530 kilometers east of Assam's capital Guwahati.
About the same time, suspected rebels blew up a nearby crude oil pipeline of state-owned Oil India Limited at Kathalguri, a police spokesman said.
The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which is fighting for an independent homeland in the Indian state, claimed responsibility for both attacks.
"We have blown up the tank at Digboi and the crude oil pipeline and have instructed our boys to carry out more such attacks in the next few days," ULFA commanderin-chief Paresh Baruah said in a statement to local media.
Kanteshwar Gogoi, an official of the refinery, said he heard "two big sounds of explosions" before the fire broke out.
There were no reports of casualties from the attack, but hundreds of nearby residents were evacuated, police said. Some 200 firefighters, army soldiers or paramilitary troops were sent to battle the fire.
The refinery was still blazing 18 hours after the attack. A spokesman for the refinery, S.B. Lahkar, said authorities had decided to wait until the fire burned itself out.
"You can feel a pungent stench in the air that is virtually choking people, with the skyline filled with a black cloud of smoke due to the fire," said Arunima Das, a doctor who lives about five kilometers from the refinery.
A flagship of the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, the refinery produced about 650,000 tons of crude oil annually, along with high quality wax and petrochemicals.
Legend holds that the refinery was built in 1901 by British colonial rulers after they noticed an elephant working on a railway project in the area had oil covering his feet.
With several big petroleum tanks adjacent to the refinery, officials said they were using cool-
ing devices to stop the fire from spreading.
The pipeline fire was put out after authorities shut down crude supply, police said. No injuries were reported.
Assam is home to a number of tribal separatist groups fighting for greater autonomy or independence. More than 10,000 people have died in insurgency in the state in the past two decades.
Assam rebels have often targeted oil installations, bridges and railway tracks.
Five years ago, ULFA militants lobbed grenades into a major crude oil depot, reducing it to ashes.
Separately Saturday, three people were killed and four injured when suspected ULFA militants attacked a village in the Goalpara district, 168 kilometres west of Guwahati, the police spokesman said.
The victims were businessmen from the state of Bihar. Tribal separatists have frequently attacked migrants from elsewhere in India, charging that they disrupt the ethnic makeup of Assam.
ULFA militants also fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police armoury in Bongaigaon district, 170 kilometres west of Guwahati, the police spokesman said.
The grenades missed the armoury but hit a nearby house, torching it completely, he said.
Officials said security was already high in Assam ahead of the ULFA's self-styled "Soldiers Day" on March 16.
"We have alerted security forces across the state to step up vigil at all vital installations like crude oil pipelines, rail and road bridges, besides government buildings," Assam's police chief Hare Krishna Deka told AFP.