GUWAHATI, India, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded inside a railway station on Friday in India's troubled Assam state, hours before Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, arrived to open the country's biggest sporting event. "Luckily there was no injuries in the blast but there was some damage to the building," said Rajen Singh, a senior police official. The bomb was planted between two buildings in the Kamakhya railway station in the northeastern state's main city, Guwahati, where India's National Games were due to start. Earlier this week, separatist militants from the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) withdrew a boycott call of the games, after prominent Assamese sportsmen and women had appealed to the rebels to lift the ban. The ULFA warned late last year that it could use force to disrupt the games, saying the event was a ploy by New Delhi to reinforce its claim that Assam was an integral part of India. Assam has been wracked since 1979 by separatist violence in which more than 20,000 people have been killed. Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, is expected to open the games and address a public rally amidst tight security in Guwahati, where thousands of police have been deployed. More than 12.000 athletes and officials from India's 29 states are expected to gather for the 33rd National Games in Guwahati as well as its adjoining capital, Dispur, on Friday.
