India ? Three bombs exploded in India’s restive northeast Thursday, killing at least five people and wounding 50, about an hour before the nation’s top security official arrived in the area.

Senior police official P. Saloi said authorities suspected the militant separatist group the United Liberation Front of Asom was behind the attacks in Gauhati, capital of Assam state. ULFA wants an independent state for the region’s ethnic Assamese and is the largest of the northeast’s many militant groups.

No group claimed responsibility.

The blasts went off in crowded areas of Gauhati just hours before Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram arrived in the city. One of the bombs detonated beneath an overpass on the road leading from the airport, Saloi said.

Police declined to say whether they thought the blasts were connected to Chidambaram’s visit.