Guwahati, Aug 13 - A group of women militant bombers have managed to sneak into Assam's main city of Guwahati to strike terror ahead of Independence Day, officials said Thursday.

Women explosives experts from both the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have entered Guwahati over the past few days with a definite plan to carry out bombings in the city.

'We have information that these women militants are experts in handling explosives and have probably entered Guwahati with a mission to strike ahead of Aug 15,' city police spokesperson Debojit Deuri said.

A maximum alert has been sounded across Assam with intelligence inputs of militants trying to stage explosions and attacks on security forces in the run up to the Independence Day.

'There is no doubt that militants were desperately trying to create violence,' the police official said.

The intelligence reports come at a time when five separatist guerrilla groups in the northeast called a 17-hour general strike to boycott the Independence Day.