GUWAHATI: Four people were injured in an explosion, the cause of which is yet to be ascertained by police, at the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road here on Saturday. Ulfa (Independent) claimed responsibility for the blast that took place when the area was teeming with puja shoppers.The explosion took place behind the wall of a pavement on the stretch of MG Road running parallel to the banks of the Brahmaputra. The four injured - Kalpa Jyoti Talukdar Sanku Kumar Das , Taifuddin Ahmed and Binita Das - were on a bus which was passing by when the blast occurred. Flying debris hit the bus, shattering the windows and injuring the passengers.Even as they initiated an investigation, police came up with two versions about the explosion, the first in the city in three years. "We don't think it was a bomb explosion because there were no splinters at the spot, nor was there any smell of burning explosives," city DCP (central) Ranjan Bhuyan said. "The explosion was in a pile of sand kept by the side of the road for drain construction. There might have been an unexploded shell, which went off," he added.On the other hand, another top officer said "traces of explosive material" had been found in the debris. "But it is not enough to call it a bomb blast," he added."On Sunday, a team of bomb experts from the National Security Guards is expected to arrive here from New Delhi to ascertain the nature of the explosion," he further said.Minutes after local TV channels reported the blast, Ulfa (I) chief Paresh Baruah called up media houses to claim responsibility for the blast. "We apologize to the four people who got injured. Our objective is to resist all groups who are trying to give shelter to Hindu Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the NRC," he said.Police dismissed the rebel leader's claim and described it as an attempt to take "undue mileage" out of an attack his outfit had not carried out. "Whenever such incidents occur, where no human lives are lost, Paresh Baruah promptly claims responsibility. The same does not happen when people die," the officer said.Education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya, who represents Guwahati in the assembly, visited the blast site. When asked about Baruah's claims, he said, "If he has said so, they (Ulfa-I) should apologize."Security in the city has been on high alert for the past couple of days in view of Durga Puja and the India-West Indies one-day match scheduled to take place on October 21.

Stay updated with all the Latest Guwahati headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.