GUWAHATI, India, April 8 (Reuters) - A bomb loaded on a motorcycle exploded in a busy market in the main city of the Indian state of Assam on Sunday, killing one man and wounding eight people near a road the prime minister was due to travel. "It is the handiwork of ULFA and we suspect one of the injured was carrying the bomb," said a senior police officer in the city, Guwahati. ULFA -- or the United Liberation Front of Asom -- has been fighting for the independence of Assamese people in a conflict that began almost three decades ago and has killed thousands of people. Rebel attacks have increased since September last year after the guerrillas and New Delhi called off peace talks and government troops ended a truce. The blast happened just 100 metres from a main road along which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due to pass. Singh's parliamentary constituency is in Assam and he had travelled to the state to lay foundation stones for two construction projects. On Sunday he began work on a bridge in Guwahati and on Monday he is due in Lepetkata, 410 km (255 miles) east of the city, to formally inaugurate building of a large petrochemicals project in an area where the rebels are strong. ULFA celebrated its "raising day" -- the day it was formed in 1979 -- on Saturday.
