GAUHATI, India -- A blast in a crowded market in India's troubled northeast on Saturday wounded at least eight people, three of them seriously, police said.

Police officer Davies Marak blamed the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army, a militant group, for the explosion at a liquor shop in Williamnagar, a district headquarters of Meghalaya state.

Marak said the injured were hospitalized in East Garo Hills district, 235 kilometres west of Shillong, the state capital. An improvised explosive device was used in the attack, he said.

The GNLA is a group known for killings, kidnappings, extortion, bomb blasts and attacks on security forces. It has been fighting for a separate Garo region within the state.

The Garos are hill people living in Meghalaya state in India and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh.