Blasts in Rajdhani Express took toll of 5 people

Dec 13:  At least five people were killed and five others injured in a powerful explosion in a passenger train 2423A Guwahati-Delhi Rajdhani Express in India’s troubled northeast state of Assam on Thursday morning. The blast took place at around 1.05 am near Chungajan in Golaghat district, about 270 km east of Guwahati.

As per the initial report the low intensity bomb was planted inside one of the luggage van of the train and not on the track” T Rabha, chief spokesman of the Northeast Frontier Railways, told media persons.

“The train was not derailed and all the passengers were safe. There was partial damage to the tracks with two sleeper compartments affected. It was immediately repaired and the train resumed its journey,” the official said. The injured were shifted to a hospital in Dimapur, in adjoining Nagaland district.

Although it can’t be said with surety till the final reports comes but initially it seems after watching the extent of the damage that bomb could have been planted in the luggage van. Because if the bomb was placed on railway track, the track would have damaged badly and the derailment was possible in that condition,” opines Golaghat district police chief.

Police suspects the hand of ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) and the ALNA (Adivasi National Liberation Army)- the two active militant group for this blasts.

All the dead passengers were Hindi-speaking migrant workers from Bihar, the police officials said.

If the bomb was planted inside the passenger compartment the ULFA could be behind the incident because it dominates the area from where the train starts and if the bomb was placed on the track, the needle of suspicion would turn to ALNA because blasts occurred in the area particularly dominated by this group.

The banned ULFA is fighting for an independent assamese homeland since 1979, while the ALNA is fighting for special rights for the Adivasi, the community of tea plantation workers.

Officials said the train had resumed its journey at around 6 am after the damaged luggage van was removed.

This is the first bomb blast on Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani express although the train had been targeted twice, once in January this year and in June last year.

On December 4, engine of the Kamrup express had been damaged badly due to powerful explosion in Eastern Assam, but could not affect the passenger compartments.

In another incident on Thursday morning, 11 bogies of a Rajdhani Express train bound for Ahmedabad derailed between Sirohi and Banas station near the border with Gujarat, police said.

In recent years some bomb explosions in trains have opened the weakness of the security agency across India. Here is the chronology of some of major train blasts that rocked the human and humanity:

February 18, 2007: Delhi-Attari Samjhauta Espress - not less than 67 people killed and many injured in a terror attack.

July 11, 2006: Mumbai train blasts – killed at least 200 commuters and injured over 100 people. Suspects- Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) nexus.

March 7, 2006: Varanasi railway station and temple twin blasts – 20 people killed at least. Suspects- Nexus of LeT and SIMI.

March 27, 2005: Ranchi-Asansol Holi Special at Gourinathdham station in West Bengal – 7 people killed and several injured in blasts triggered by Maoists.

July 28, 2005: Shramjeevi Delhi-Patna Express blast – 12 passengers killed and 52 other injured. Suspects-Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

October 02, 2004: Dimapur, Nagaland train station and market twin blasts-Over 35 people killed.