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66 killed in India-Pak train blast
Published on Mon, Feb 19, 2007 at 07:25, Updated on Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 05:10 in Nation section
Tags: Samjhaouta Express, Train , New Delhi
TRAIN TERROR: Three live bombs were recovered from the train and diffused by security personnel.
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New Delhi: In a suspected terror attack, two bogies of Samjhauta Express caught fire near Panipat in Haryana at around 2315 hrs IST on Sunday, leaving 66 people dead and over 50 injured.
The fire broke out in the train at Shiva Village under Chandni Bagh police station in Panipat district, about 100 kilometre from national capital Delhi. The train, also called Attari Express, was going from Delhi to Lahore via Attari in Punjab.
The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital. Initial investigations reveal that cause of fire could be explosives. Security personnel later recovered three live bombs from the train and defused them.
“We are conducting an enquiry into the incident. Arms and explosives have been recovered from the site. Unwanted elements are trying to disturb the peace process between the two nations. I am rushing to the spot,” Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad said.
The bi-weekly train had left Old Delhi Railway Station at 2240 hrs IST on Sunday. The fire was noticed in the last two bogies of the train when it reached the railway crossing near the village. Eyewitnesses say they heard an explosion before the train caught fire.
Rescue operations
Soon after the incident, police launched rescue operations along with the Railway police personnel and bomb disposal squad.
The charred bogies were taken out after the fire was extinguished by fire tenders, which came from Panipat and the nearby Indian Oil refinery.
After the separation of the two bogies, the train left for its destination at about 0300 hrs IST.
Northern Railway General Manger V N Mathur, who reached the spot from Delhi, said two suitcases were recovered from the spot - one from the rail track and one from the train.
“This looks like a case of sabotage. Two suitcases with live bombs have been recovered from the site,” he told CNN-IBN.
Both the suitcases contained Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) - one of them also had incendiary material, either kerosene or petrol, he said.
THE HISTORY OF ATTARI EXPRESS |
| - The Attari Express is a bi-weekly train, which runs between Attari and Delhi twice a week. It leaves Delhi on Sundays and Wednesdays and departs from Attari on Mondays and Thursdays. |
| - On the Pakistan side, it's called the Samjhauta Express, which runs between Lahore and Attari. It leaves Lahore on Mondays and Thursdays and leaves Attari on Mondays and Thursdays. |
| - Until the reopening of Thar Express, this was the only rail connection between the two countries. |
| - The train was originally started on July 22, 1976 following the Shimla Agreement and ran between Amritsar and Lahore, a distance of about 42 km, when it was called Samjhauta Express. |
| - It was a daily train when the service started, and changed to a bi-weekly schedule in 1994. |
| - Following disturbances in Punjab in the late '80s, Indian Railways decided to terminate the service at Attari, where customs and immigration clearances take place due to security reasons.. |
| - On April 14, 2000 in an agreement between Indian Railways and Pakistan Railways, the distance was revised to cover just under 3 km, possibly the shortest route covered by any train in the world. |
| - The train's first break of service was when it was discontinued on January 1, 2002 in the wake of terrorist attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. The service resumed on January 15, 2004. |
| - The border crossing takes place between Wagah in Pakistan and Attari in India. Originally, this was a through service with the same rake going all the way between the termini; later the Pakistani rake stopped at Attari at which point passengers had to change trains. |
He added that a forensic team of the Haryana government and an enquiry panel of the Northern Railways have reached the site.
He said he had talked to the gateman near Deewana station, who told him that he had heard two “distinct explosions".
However, Union Home Secretary V K Duggal did not confirm that the explosion was set off by IEDs in two coaches. “There was no specific information about the incident prior to the mishap. We are just leaving for the site and we will know details of the incident only there."
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