Three people were killed and eight wounded in a powerful landmine explosion at a crowded vegetable market in Assam's main city of Guwahati in northeast India Friday afternoon, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

The blast occurred in the Machkhowa area that houses a wholesale vegetable market around 4.30 PM local time (11:00 GMT). Eyewitnesses said limbs were strewn all over the place. Most victims were shoppers or vendors.

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is suspected to be behind the blast, police said. The toll is expected to go up.

ULFA militants were reported to carry out four separate blasts late Thursday, injuring 34 people, including half-a-dozen policemen, in the eastern Nagaon, northern Darrang and western Dhubri districts of the state.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2006)