GUWAHATI, Aug 7: Three people were killed and 10 injured in a powerful explosion on Tuesday in India's northeastern state of Assam, ahead of the country's Independence Day celebrations next week, police said.

The blast occurred in front of a police station in Jorhat, 310 kilometres east of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

“The bomb was concealed in a sack and kept on a bicycle parked near the police station,” Jorhat police chief Deepak Choudhury said.

“The area was crowded with people when the blast took place. It was a very powerful explosion that was heard from a distance of about two miles,” another police official said.

It is the fourth explosion in two days in the area. On Sunday, 10 people were wounded in three separate blasts in Assam, with police blaming all the attacks on the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

Such attacks are common each year in Assam in the run-up to India's Independence Day on Aug 15.—AFP