Guwahati, October 03: Four persons, including three ultras, were killed and 20 injured as NDFB and ULFA militants struck at seven places in Assam for the second consecutive day taking the toll to 30, even as Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the situation in the State.

A militant was killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded at Puthimari under Kolaigaon police station in Udalguri district.

Two NDFB militants were killed in a similar blast at Koilajuli in Rangapara of Sonitpur district.

ULFA militants exploded a bomb at Borhat in Sibsagar district which killed a tea garden labourer on the spot and seriously injured two others.

The district police also recovered six kg RDX from ULFA militants and took 10 people into custody.

Another explosion took place in a paddy field at Pachim Koilajuli in Sonitpur from where body parts of a suspected NDFB militant was found.

But the exact number of casualty was not known, official sources said.

Fifteen people were injured when militants exploded a bomb in a cloth shop at the Dhekiajuli weekly market in the district.

The stepped up violence by the NDFB, which is celebrating its 18th Raising Day, and the ULFA spread to more districts today affecting Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Darrang, Morigaon, Chirang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Sibsagar, Karbi Anglong, Kamrup and Nalbari.

The number of injured in the violence by the proscribed outfits stood at 68, official sources said.

Patil, who reviewed the security situation in the State with Chief Minister and senior officials, said a long-term strategy for combating terrorism in the North East will soon be formulated.

In Kokrajhar district's weekly market at Gossaigaon, NDFB ultras opened fire and seriously injured two persons.

A crude bomb exploded in Nalbari town seriously wounding a 12 year-old girl, the police said.

A CRPF personnel who was injured at Diphu in Karbi Anglong district yesterday when militants fired on a train, succumbed to his injuries while nine of his colleagues were in serious conditions.

Director General of Police P V Sumant told PTI that ''maximum alert'' was sounded in the NDFB strongholds with additional security forces deployed and security along railway tracks intensified following apprehension that ultras might target trains.

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