Five killed in bomb attack on train in India

Dec 13, 2007, 12:46 GMT

New Delhi - At least five people were killed and four others injured in a bomb attack on a passenger train in India's restive north-eastern state of Assam on Thursday, officials said.

Railway authorities said an explosion occurred at 1 am on the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express line in the Golaghat district, 270 kilometres east of state capital Guwahati.

A bomb planted on the railway tracks exploded as soon as the train passed the section.

'A luggage-passenger coach bore the impact of the blast and five passengers were killed on the scene. Four other passengers who were wounded were shifted to a state-run hospital nearby,' said AK Saxena, chief spokesman of the Indian Railways spokesman.

Saxena said the train resumed its onward journey after railway authorities carried out repairs to the track and security personnel inspected the track.

A local insurgent group claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack and vowed to step up the violence.

'Our cadres triggered the blast using a remote system and we shall continue with such attacks in the coming days,' Dilip Beg, a leader of the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) told the IANS new agency by telephone.

He said his group would not desist until the government conferred special status with more rights and privileges to tribal peoples.

Since the victims of the blast were all Hindi-speaking migrant workers, police had suspected it to be the work of Assam's separatist groups that have targeted migrants in the past.

'The needle of suspicion is on two militants groups - the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) and the ANLA,' the Golaghat police chief PC Haloi said immediately after the attack.

It was the first bomb blast on the Rajdhani train which has been targeted by militants twice before, once in January 2007 and in June 2006.

The outlawed ULFA is fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979, while the ANLA is a small group active in Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of eastern Assam and fighting for special tribal rights in the region.

Terrorists and militant groups often target the train network in India, which is among the world's largest. Earlier this year, terrorists bombed the Samjhauta Express between India and Pakistan, killing 68 passengers and injuring 60.

On Sunday, a train derailed in Assam, killing one passenger and injuring 55 others which railway authorities said could have been sabotaged by militants.