Imphal, Aug 9 (IANS) A paramilitary trooper was killed and another critically wounded Wednesday in a powerful bomb blast triggered by separatist guerrillas in Manipur, police said.

The explosion took place when a patrol party of Assam Rifles was passing through village Wangjing, about 40 km southeast of Manipur capital Imphal.

"The bomb that was planted on the roadside went off killing one soldier and seriously injuring another. The security team was on a mission to look out for rebels on getting specific information when the blast took place," a senior Manipur police official said over telephone from here.

The outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF) claimed responsibility for the explosion by calling up local newspaper offices.

"The attack was carried out by the Manipur People's Army, the armed wing of the UNLF, as part of our pre-Independence Day warning," a UNLF leader was quoted as saying by local journalists.

The UNLF is a frontline rebel group in Manipur, bordering Myanmar, and is fighting for an independent state.

The group has called for a general strike Aug 15 to boycott the Independence Day celebrations.

At least a dozen rebel groups in the northeastern states of Assam, Manipur and Tripura have called for such a boycott.

In Assam and Tripura, rebels have stepped up violence over the weekend killing at least eight people and wounding 36 others in a wave of bombings and attacks on civilians and security forces.

Militants in the northeast have been boycotting Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations for years to protest New Delhi's rule over the vast region rich in oil, tea and timber.