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| It was a low-noise, high-impact explosive - a new terror trend | | | New Delhi | Feb 19
The twin blasts on the India-Pakistan peace train represent a "a new trend" in terror strikes as it involves "low-grade explosives" and use of petrol to enhance impact, say senior Delhi Police officials.
At least 66 people, mostly Pakistanis, were killed when the blasts ripped through two compartments of the special train to Attari that links up with the Samjhauta Express to Lahore.
"It appears to be a new trend in terror strikes. The terrorists had used some low-grade explosives with sulphur content to trigger the blast. Besides, petrol cans were also found in the two coaches, apparently used to enhance the effect of the strike," a senior official after a Delhi Police team inspected the site near Haryana's Panipat town, told IANS.
That explains why the bogies of the train were not ripped apart following the explosions and it instead caught fire, said the official. Telltale yellow stains inside the two burnt compartments, due to the use of sulphur in the explosives, have added to the certainty.
Doctors in New Delhi Safdarjung Hospital, where 12 of the injured victims were rushed to, said this also explains the nature of the burns. Most of the 12, including 10 Pakistanis, sustained severe burn injuries with damages to their respiratory system by inhaling toxic sulphur and sulphur dioxide fumes.
Foxed by this "new trend", police and security agencies have been restrained in guessing the identity of the terror group behind the blast.
"It was no doubt a terror strike. But as of now we are not sure which group was behind it. This was a new trend, never used earlier in any terror strike," said an official.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who visited the injured at Safdarjung Hospital, echoed the views of Delhi Police.
"It was some explosive, which made low noise, but had a devastating effect."
Reports from the spot also spoke of how the blast was not heard, but only seen.
The train, which doesn't stop till it reaches Attari, was speeding past the Diwana station near Haryana's Panipat town when assistant station manager Vinod Kumar Gupta and his colleagues informed the driver and the guard of what had happened.
Till then, they were oblivious of the fact that the two compartments were on fire. Finally, the train came to a stop 2.5 km from the station at gate number 49.
Pointsman of the Diwana station Babulal Meena also said the gatesman had spotted the fire at 11.53 p.m. when the train was at gate 47. "By the time we informed our next three gates, both the bogies were on fire. We didn't hear any sound of blast, just saw the fire," he said.
Station officials here don't really know exactly where the blast occurred but say it was after Samalkha station and before Diwana, a distance of about nine km.
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