Guwahati, Dec. 27: Suspected militants set fire to a bus carrying over 60 picnickers in Assam’s Sonitpur district today, leaving 24 injured.

The attack, on a national highway, took place 15 minutes after a 24-hour statewide bandh called by the Birsa Commando Force began at 5am. The bandh had been called in protest against the killing of three cadres in an army encounter on December 21.

Police officer Dilip Saikia said the bus was packed with over 60 people, including women and children, who were returning to Lakhimpur district.

Police sources said some of the passengers told them that around five armed persons stopped the bus on National Highway 52 by throwing stones at its windshield.

“The miscreants then broke open the windshield, poured kerosene and set the bus on fire. The armed persons then fled on motorcycles,” Saikia said.

“Most of the passengers managed to come out of the bus,” he said, adding that some got injured in the rush while five suffered burns. “All of them are out of danger,” he said.

Birsing Munda, the commander-in-chief of the militant outfit, told The Telegraph his outfit’s cadres were not involved and a third party may have carried out the attack to “derail” the ceasefire with the government.