NEW DELHI (AFP) - At least 62 people burned to death after a suspected blast aboard a train from India to Pakistan that is a symbol of the peace process between the countries, according to railway officials.
“We have eyewitnesses who said they heard two blasts,” said Vinoo Narain Mathur, general manager of India’s Northern Railways, putting the death toll at 62 and saying sabotage was suspected on the so-called “Friendship Express”.
“Police have found a detonator at the scene,” Mathur said.
Private news channel New Delhi Television, citing intelligence sources, said the blast may be linked to an attack on crowded commuter trains in Mumbai last July that left 185 dead and injured more than 800.
The attack led India to suspend peace talks in place since January 2004 for several months.
India blamed that attack on Pakistan-backed militants linked to the nation’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. Islamabad denied the charge.
Police said several Pakistanis were among the casualties on the train from the Indian capital New Delhi to Attari station in the northern state of Punjab, where passengers alight to cross the border into Pakistan.
The blast occurred at around midnight near the town of Panipat, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of New Delhi, Mathur said.
Television channels showed rescue workers sifting through ash and cinders in the charred carriages.
Times Now news channel said two petrol bombs were believed to have exploded, adding that it took one and a half hours for rescue workers to arrive at the scene at Deewana, five kilometres from Panipat.
The train service takes passengers from New Delhi to the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore after a transfer at the border, and represents a rapprochement between India and Pakistan.
The service was suspended in early 2002 because of tensions between Pakistan and India following an attack on India’s parliament in December 2001 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants. It was restarted in January 2004.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
Very sad. I saw the video clippages shown in the channel and the two bogies were burnt completely. Luckily there were four more bombs that were detected in time and defused. If not there would have been a major catastrophe.
But, I still think that there was a lapse in the security. Through out the day, there were warnings in the news channel that there is a bomb on some so and so train and many of them turned out to be hoax. However the authorities should have taken extra care to check this train especially as it is an important link between India and Pakistan and by attacking this train, the terrorists are able to strike both India and Pakistan in one attack.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
Report suggest that most of the victims are pakistani citizens. Very sad. The blast happened in the un reserved bogeys. The rest of the train resumed the journey and is on its way to Attari.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
India to give visas for kin of Pakistani victims
India on Monday said it will issue visas on urgent basis for relatives of Pakistani nationals killed or injured in the blast in the Delhi-Attari special train bound for Lahore.
"Visas will be issued immediately for the relatives of the passengers who were either killed or injured in the incident so that they could travel to the Indian side," a senior official of the Indian high commission in Islamabad said.
The relatives could travel to the other side of the border in order to help their injured relatives or identify those killed in the explosions, the official said.
At least 64 people have been killed in suspected IED blasts in two coaches of Delhi-Attari special train for Lahore in Deewana in Panipat.
Officials said the Pakistan government was deeply concerned over the incident and a report was sought from its high commission in New Delhi.
The news of the explosion in the train was received with deep concern is Pakistan as it took place a day before Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri travels to New Delhi for a three-day visit to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.
Kasuri will be in New Delhi to attend the Indo-Pak Joint Commission meeting as well as to hold talks with the Indian leadership on taking the peace process between the two countries forward.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
Its pretty sad..the freakin morons who r behind this should be publically hanged...I mean WTH...why ? Why cant they do something positive in their freakin lives...
I am just so sorry to hear of all of this..:(
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
It is quite unfortunte. I guess many of these will be Pakistani travellers. Lousy, lazy and corrupt police is no match for the terrorists who are tech savvy.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
Very sad, innocent people loosing life in Indo-Pak mud.
I can still feel the pain of Mumbai train bombings and this news refreshes that painful scene.
Blame ONLY to security lapses. When we Indians know that there are elements who don't want peace due to fear of loosing relevance and particularly past experiences suggest that trains are the soft targets, we should have provided enough security arrangements before starting the train service. Also it's not an ordinary local train, it's a symbolic step towards peace process, so this needed special security.
Let an independent enquiry be launched.
Re: 62 dead in suspected blast on India-Pakistan train
No news/evidence about findings of Bombay trains blasts. This episode will also be treated like this. Common people cannot expect any good from a corrupt and spineless establishment.
Another sad thing to note was that doors were locked for 'security reasons' and people could not escape the inferno.
Such episode will continue to occur. Politicians will compete with each other in making statements.