(Updates with Sonia Gandhi's quotes)

GUWAHATI, India, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded inside a railway station on Friday in India's troubled Assam state, hours before Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, arrived to open the country's biggest sporting event.

"Luckily there were no injuries in the blast but there was some damage to the building," said Rajen Singh, a senior police official.

The bomb was planted between two buildings in the Kamakhya railway station in the northeastern state's main city, Guwahati, where India's National Games were due to start.

Earlier this week, separatist militants from the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) -- which is fighting for the independence of Assam -- withdrew a call to boycott the games, after an appeal from Assamese sportsmen and women.

The ULFA warned late last year that it could use force to disrupt the games, saying the event was a ploy by New Delhi to reinforce its claim that Assam was an integral part of India.

More than 12,000 athletes and officials from India's 29 states are expected to gather for the 33rd National Games being held in Guwahati and Assam's capital, Dispur.

Gandhi later addressed a public rally in Guwahati and said government was ready for talks to bring peace to the region.

"Our doors are always open for negotiations and find a solution to the problems in the region," she said.

Separatist violence has killed more than 20,000 people in Assam since 1979.

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