Guwahati: Suspected militants set off two bombs outside a police station in Nalbari town near Guwahati on Sunday, killing seven and wounding at least 50, police said.

Five people died instantly after two blasts went off within minutes of each other, a local police official said. Two people died later in a hospital, he said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said what officials had earlier reported was a third bomb in a market a few miles away, turned out to be a firecracker.

At least 52 people were wounded in the blasts, said Bhaskar Mahanta, Assam’s inspector general of police. He said authorities suspect the militant separatist group United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) is behind the blasts. The bombers had parked two bicycles fitted with carriers packed with explosives outside the Nalbari police station, which is located in a congested part of the town, he said.

Mahanta said police had received intelligence reports suggesting that Ulfa was planning to avenge last week’s arrest of two of the group’s leaders.

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