Unclaimed bag sparks bomb scare at Pathankot railway station

PATHANKOT: An unclaimed bag at a railway station here today sparked a security scare, but it was later found that it contained clothes and was mistakenly left behind by a soldier.

After the bag was detected at around 11.30 AM, people were swiftly evacuated from the area and rail traffic was halted on the route in the district where police and agencies have been on high alert following the terror strike at air base early this month.

Bomb disposal and dog squads were summoned to identify the contents of the bag.

Pathankot SSP, R K Bakshi said that sleuths found that the bag contained uniform, shoes and other articles of an Army jawan who had left it behind.

"We have established the identity of the jawan," he said.

Punjab police and Government Railway Police officials said that the bag, wrapped in a black cloth, had been left behind by by the army jawan who had alighted at the railway station when the train halted after reaching here from Delhi.

"After the bag was discovered by the Government Railway Police on the train, they immediately informed me saying they had brought it down at the railway station and cleared the area of any people. Soon afterwards, the police and the Army along with the bomb disposal and dog squads reached the spot,"

"We took no chance and immediately halted the rail traffic on the route after the bag was found. The railway station was also got vacated," he said.

Punjab is already on high alert after the January 2 Pathankot air base terror attack in which seven security personnel were killed.

Tight security arrangements had been put in place in view of Republic Day.