Death toll in Indian state's bomb attack rises to 77

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GAUHATI, India, Oct 31 (AP): The level of sophistication in the bombings that killed at least 77 people in northeastern India indicate local militants had help from other terrorist groups to carry out the attacks, officials said Friday.
The scale and planning behind Thursday's 13 coordinated blasts in Assam state surprised authorities, who struggled to determine who was behind the attacks - among the worst ever in a region plagued by separatism and ethnic violence.
The death toll in the explosions rose to 77 Friday after more than a dozen people died from their injuries overnight, said Subhas Das, the state's home commissioner. More than 300 people were wounded.
Assam state Inspector General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said the state's largest separatist group, the United Liberation Front of Asom, was the main target of the investigation, but he added that the sophistication of the blasts suggested the rebel group was "assisted by a force who has adequate expertise in such attacks." He did not elaborate.
Anjan Borehaur, a spokesman for the United Liberation Front of Asom, denied his group had any role in the blasts.
The separatist group has never carried out an attack of this size and complexity, which closely resembled bombings that have rocked other Indian cities this year. Those attacks were blamed on well-financed and well-armed Islamic militant groups.
Federal investigators and forensic experts sifted through the rubble of the blasts Friday for clues.