GUWAHATI, INDIA, Monday, October 14, 2002: Four people were killed and 18 others injured, some seriously, in two separate attacks on Durga Puja pandals by militants in lower Assam’s Bongaigaon district last night. Pandals are temporary festival roadside temples, often quite elaborate. Extremists hurled hand grenades at two puja pandals in Bongaigaon town and nearby Satipur, killing four people. Fourteen of the injured were admitted to local hospitals, while the identity of the extremists has not been ascertained. Last year, also during Durga Puja, militants attacked a puja pandal in Dhubri district exploding a bomb. Three people were killed and seven others injured besides completely destroying the image of the Goddess.
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