Five killed in Assam train blast
Suspected Adivasi rebels carried out a powerful blast on the Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi Rajdhani Express killing five passengers and injuring nine others.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Assam, which has witnessed a sharp rise in casualties on account of insurgent violence this year, saw yet another attack on Thursday when suspected Adivasi rebels carried out a powerful blast on the Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi Rajdhani Express, killing five passengers and injuring nine others.
The blast took place at 1.06 am in a compartment attached to the luggage van of the Delhi-bound train, just ahead of Sungajan railway station. Five passengers died on the spot and the four critically injured were admitted to a hospital at Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland. The explosion also damaged the luggage van just behind the engine and two sleepers of the track.
Though the Adivasi Liberational National Army (ANLA), a tribal outfit demanding ST status for adivasis of the state, later claimed responsibility for the blast, the security agencies, both at the Centre and in the state, are not ruling out a link with the better organised groups like Ulfa, Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KNLNF), or even Naga outfits.
According to sources in the MHA, the state government was in possession of prior intelligence that attacks by adivasis could take place in the wake of recent incident of an adivasi woman being publicly stripped and beaten in Guwahati. However, the warning was not specific and, in fact, did not hint at the possibility of railways or its properties being targeted.
Although Ulfa is not too strong around Golaghat region, where the blast took place, the investigating authorities are not ruling out the possibility of it having offered logistical help to ANLA — incidentally, this was the maiden blast for the adivasi outfit since its inception in 2005 — in a bid to fish in troubled waters. Also, the likely involvement of the KLNLF, which recently carried out killings of Hindi-speaking migrants in Assam, is under the scanner.
Since the site of the train blast falls close to the Naga border, where Ulfa is not supposed to tread, one also cannot rule out a Naga link as well.
“All angles are being looked into,” said a senior MHA official monitoring the investigations into the blast. Agency reports quoted security personnel in Assam as saying that the explosive may have been planted in a suitcase inside the luggage van of the train at its point of origin at Dibrugarh. The train halts for barely two minutes at the next station, Mariani, and goes directly to Guwahati, leaving little scope for the militants to alight after planting the bomb.
The Centre has condemned the blasts and despatched a team of officials, including bomb experts from the NSG, to Guwahati to assist the state police in investigations into the blast.
Assam has, over the last one year, seen an upsurge in insurgency-driven violence, having recorded 1,346 incidents until November 15, 2007, as compared to 1,366 in the whole of 2006. Civilian casualties too have grown from 395 in 2006 to 438 up till November 15 this year. Fortunately, even the number of insurgents liquidated has gone up, touching 458 as compared to 395 insurgents neutralised in the whole of last year.
The blast took place at 1.06 am in a compartment attached to the luggage van of the Delhi-bound train, just ahead of Sungajan railway station. Five passengers died on the spot and the four critically injured were admitted to a hospital at Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland. The explosion also damaged the luggage van just behind the engine and two sleepers of the track.
Though the Adivasi Liberational National Army (ANLA), a tribal outfit demanding ST status for adivasis of the state, later claimed responsibility for the blast, the security agencies, both at the Centre and in the state, are not ruling out a link with the better organised groups like Ulfa, Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KNLNF), or even Naga outfits.
According to sources in the MHA, the state government was in possession of prior intelligence that attacks by adivasis could take place in the wake of recent incident of an adivasi woman being publicly stripped and beaten in Guwahati. However, the warning was not specific and, in fact, did not hint at the possibility of railways or its properties being targeted.
Although Ulfa is not too strong around Golaghat region, where the blast took place, the investigating authorities are not ruling out the possibility of it having offered logistical help to ANLA — incidentally, this was the maiden blast for the adivasi outfit since its inception in 2005 — in a bid to fish in troubled waters. Also, the likely involvement of the KLNLF, which recently carried out killings of Hindi-speaking migrants in Assam, is under the scanner.
Since the site of the train blast falls close to the Naga border, where Ulfa is not supposed to tread, one also cannot rule out a Naga link as well.
ADVERTISEMENT
“All angles are being looked into,” said a senior MHA official monitoring the investigations into the blast. Agency reports quoted security personnel in Assam as saying that the explosive may have been planted in a suitcase inside the luggage van of the train at its point of origin at Dibrugarh. The train halts for barely two minutes at the next station, Mariani, and goes directly to Guwahati, leaving little scope for the militants to alight after planting the bomb.
The Centre has condemned the blasts and despatched a team of officials, including bomb experts from the NSG, to Guwahati to assist the state police in investigations into the blast.
Assam has, over the last one year, seen an upsurge in insurgency-driven violence, having recorded 1,346 incidents until November 15, 2007, as compared to 1,366 in the whole of 2006. Civilian casualties too have grown from 395 in 2006 to 438 up till November 15 this year. Fortunately, even the number of insurgents liquidated has gone up, touching 458 as compared to 395 insurgents neutralised in the whole of last year.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
