Now India's northeast region comes under terror attack, serial bomb blasts kill at least 5 in Agartala

On Wednesday evening, series of bombs exploded in the Radhanagar and Golbazar areas of Agartala, capital of Tripura, killing at least 5 and wounding over 100.

According to police investigators, four high intensity bombs went off in Agartala. "One of the bombs went off in a bus stand while the remaining three exploded in busy maket areas. They all went off in quick succession," a police official said on conditions of anonymity.

A sixth bomb was found inside a tiffin box at the Motor Stand and defused.

According to eyewitnesses, the bombs went off suddenly, catching people off guard. "The bombs went off during evening rush hour. People were seen shopping ahead of a Hindu festival. Everybody was caught off guard," said Soumitra Das, an eyewitness.

"There was total chaos. As soon as the bombs exploded, people were running here and there to safety. Some of them were lying in pool of blood and moaning. Soon, the ambulances came and carried away the injured to be treated," Das said.

Tripura's Director General of Police Pranay Sahay said initial investigations have revealed that Muslim militants from Bangladesh could be behind the bomb attacks. He, however, refused to identify any group.

Till now, no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Tripura's two major ethnic insurgent groups, the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have been lying low for the past few months and have, till now, been known to launch attacks only security forces and villages populated by Bengali settlers.

"Security along the border has been tightened," he said, referring to nearly 840 km of porous border with Bangladesh. Agartala is about 5 km from the international border.

Police investigators are trying to ascertain the nature of the bomb.

"We are trying to ascertain what kind of explosives had been used," said police spokesman Nepal Das, adding that the serial explosions were the first such attacks in Tripura.

Initial investigations have revealed that timers were used to make the bombs go off and the bombs had pellets inside to intensify the impact.

Tripura is among a cluster of states in India's far northeast - an area wedged between Myanmar, Bangladesh, China and Bhutan. Northeast India is home to more than 200 tribes and has been racked by long-running insurgencies by regional separatist groups since India gained independence from Britain in 1947.

In the past six months, bomb blasts have killed over 130 people in Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra.

The latest attack came after the Indian government acknowledged that there were "vast gaps" in intelligence gathering on homegrown militancy and unveiled new security measures.