Arya Samaj

Mitra · Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: Attack On Samjhauta Express

66 die in India-Pakistan train attack
by
Muneeza Naqvi, Associated Press Writer

DEWANA, India - A pair of explosions on a train headed for Pakistan set off a fire that killed at least 66 people, some of whom became trapped when a train door was fused shut by the heat of the flames. Officials said the attack was aimed at disrupting improving relations between the rivals.

The explosions and fire struck just before midnight Sunday, a day before peace talks between India and Pakistan.

The fire swept through two cars just before the Samjhauta Express reached the station in the village of Dewana, about 50 miles north of New Delhi. As on most Indian trains, the windows of many cars are barred for security reasons.

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Bharti Arora, superintendent of the Haryana state railway police, put the death toll at 66 but authorities warned it could rise.

"From the less damaged coach, some people were seen jumping out with their bodies on fire," Arora said.

At least 30 passengers were hospitalized in the nearby town of Panipat, though they were later moved to larger medical facilities, officials said. A dozen critically injured people were brought to New Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, a hospital statement said.

Dozens of families converged on the Panipat hospital, which was turned into a makeshift morgue.
Outside, police set up a desk next to a stack of makeshift wooden coffins where worried relatives could sift through recovered documents. Piles of burned, sodden Pakistani passports and currency indicated the nationality of most of the victims.

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Authorities said two suitcases packed with unexploded crude bombs and bottles of gasoline were found in cars not hit in the attack, leading them to suspect the fire was set off by identical explosive devices. V.N. Mathur, general manager of the Northern Railway, confirmed that there had been two explosions.

India's junior home Minster, Sriprakash Jaiswal, said the homemade bombs were not powerful, and were simply intended to start a fire on the train, one day before Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri was to arrive in New Delhi for talks on the ongoing peace process.

"This is an act of sabotage," Railway Minister Laloo Prasad told reporters in Patna, India. "This is an attempt to derail the improving relationship between India and Pakistan."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed anguish and grief at the loss of lives and said that "the culprits will be caught," a brief statement by his office said.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said leaders on both sides of the border should move forward with efforts to secure peace.

"We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process and succeed in their nefarious designs," he was quoted as saying by state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.

There were just over 600 people on board the train, railway officials said, though it was unclear how many were traveling in the burning coaches.

The train was traveling from New Delhi to Atari, the last railroad station before the border with Pakistan

The train links are one of the most visible results of the peace process under way between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, and one of the easiest ways to travel across the heavily militarized border.

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(Source)
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