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| 5 killed in Assam rail blast | | | AGENCIES
Diphu (Assam), Dec 2: Five persons were on Tuesday killed and 34 injured as militants exploded a bomb in a train and followed it up with gunning down of a Hindi-speaking couple in the central Assam district of Karbi Anglong.
Suspected cadres of the banned Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) exploded a timed device inside a general compartment of the Tinsukia-Lumding Passenger train as it approached Diphu station around 8 am killing two passengers, including a child, and injuring 35 others, officials said.
The two passengers who died on the spot were identified as Kamal Singh Teron (26) and Raj Debnath (7).
A woman passenger, Namita Debnath (25), succumbed to her injuries in Diphu Civil Hospital, where the injured were admitted. Two others, whose condition was stated to be serious, were shifted to the Army Hospital at Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland, they said.
Militants later shot dead Hindi-speaking couple Raju Sahu and his wife and injured their child at Dalamara.
The militants fled after the incident causing panic in the remote village of the hill district, sources said.
KLNLF ultras, enforcing an 'indefinite economic blockade' had on earlier occasions targeted Hindi-speaking people of the district.
This is the second major attack in Assam after the October 30 serial blasts, which left 87 people dead.
The KLNLF, enforcing the blockade on national highways and rail tracks, planted the bomb at the entrance of the train compartment ripping it apart, the sources said.
The group claimed responsibility for the blast saying it was in protest against the government's 'apathy' to their demands and peace process.
A person, identifying himself as KLNLF general secretary Thong Teron, said that the group had earlier this year sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi but none responded to their "peace initiative".
Karbi Anglong SP A K Sarma said security arrangements have been tightened in the Hindi-speaking areas where additional forces were deployed, while operations against the KLNLF have been intensified.
Checking and guarding of railway tracks in the district was entrusted to the army and CRPF, Sarma said.
The police had prior information about the militants' plan to explode bombs at Diphu, headquarters of Karbi Anglong district, and Bokajan and Howraghat towns.
Due to intensified vigil, militants failed to plant the bomb in the two towns and instead detonated it with a time device inside the train as it was approaching Diphu railway station, Sarma said.
The bomb could have been planted at either of the three small railway stations of Barlangpha, Langsoliat and Nilalong approaching Diphu.
The passenger train carries mostly vendors who bring vegetables from nearby villages to Diphu.
Sarma said the police had found two bombs at Dokmoka area of the town which was planted by the KLNLF militants. One was found near the district mandal Congress office and the other near railway passenger's waiting room. Bomb defusal squad personnel were informed, he said. |
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