02-19-2007, 01:46 PM
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070219/19/12gxi.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Monday February 19, 04:19 PM
<b>Blast kills 64 on India-Pakistan friendship train</b>
Photo : AFPÂ
NEW DELHI (AFP) - At least 64 people burned to death after a blast aboard a train from India to Pakistan that officials said was intended to damage the peace process between the two neighbours.
Explosives were found in two suitcases which directly pointed to sabotage, Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters on Monday following the overnight blast on the "Samjhauta (Friendship) Express".
Explosions ripped through two passenger carriages around midnight near Panipat, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of New Delhi. The twice-weekly service runs from the Indian capital to Lahore in Pakistan.
"The intention is clear -- it is an effort to destabilise peace between India, Pakistan. Innocent people have been killed," said the railways minister.
"At least 64 people are dead," he said. Two dozen more were reported injured.
New Delhi Television, citing intelligence sources, said the blast may be linked to an attack on commuter trains in Mumbai last July that left 185 dead and led India to suspend peace talks for several months.
(That was caused by Indian islamists, so are they saying this is too?)
Forensic experts told Star News television that low intensity explosives had been used along with bottles of kerosene to spread fire. A dozen more bottles which had failed to explode had been found.
In a statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed "anguish and grief" at the loss of lives.
"The culprits will be caught," he <b>vowed</b>.
Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil said: "Whoever has done it is against peace, against the friendly ties that we are trying to build with other countries."
Panipat police superintendent Mohinder Singh Sheoran told AFP by telephone that 62 bodies had been removed from the wreckage. Police said several Pakistanis were among the dead and wounded.
"We have eyewitnesses who said they heard two blasts," said Vinoo Narain Mathur, general manager of India's Northern Railways. "Police have found a detonator at the scene."
Television channels showed rescue workers sifting through ash and cinders in two charred carriages as witnesses spoke of a sudden ball of fire.
"We were sleeping when I heard the blast," a sobbing survivor told Times Now Television.
"The doors were closed, we couldn't open them, I felt suffocated," he said, showing a heavily bandaged hand.
"There was panic among the passengers ... There was total chaos in the train," said a survivor named by the Press Trust of India as Zubaida.
Wasim Khan arrived looking for his Pakistani uncle who was on the train.
"I don't know what has happened to him," he told Star News.
Times Now said it took one and a half hours for rescue workers to arrive at the scene at Deewana.
The cross-border train service represents a rapprochement between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since the subcontinent won independence from Britain in 1947.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of lending support to an Islamic rebellion in Indian-administered Kashmir, where violence since the start of the insurgency in 1989 has killed at least 44,000 people.
Islamabad denies supporting the insurgency.
The Friendship Express was suspended in 2002 because of tensions following an attack on India's parliament in December 2001 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants. It was restarted in January 2004.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Monday February 19, 04:19 PM
<b>Blast kills 64 on India-Pakistan friendship train</b>
Photo : AFPÂ
NEW DELHI (AFP) - At least 64 people burned to death after a blast aboard a train from India to Pakistan that officials said was intended to damage the peace process between the two neighbours.
Explosives were found in two suitcases which directly pointed to sabotage, Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters on Monday following the overnight blast on the "Samjhauta (Friendship) Express".
Explosions ripped through two passenger carriages around midnight near Panipat, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of New Delhi. The twice-weekly service runs from the Indian capital to Lahore in Pakistan.
"The intention is clear -- it is an effort to destabilise peace between India, Pakistan. Innocent people have been killed," said the railways minister.
"At least 64 people are dead," he said. Two dozen more were reported injured.
New Delhi Television, citing intelligence sources, said the blast may be linked to an attack on commuter trains in Mumbai last July that left 185 dead and led India to suspend peace talks for several months.
(That was caused by Indian islamists, so are they saying this is too?)
Forensic experts told Star News television that low intensity explosives had been used along with bottles of kerosene to spread fire. A dozen more bottles which had failed to explode had been found.
In a statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed "anguish and grief" at the loss of lives.
"The culprits will be caught," he <b>vowed</b>.
Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil said: "Whoever has done it is against peace, against the friendly ties that we are trying to build with other countries."
Panipat police superintendent Mohinder Singh Sheoran told AFP by telephone that 62 bodies had been removed from the wreckage. Police said several Pakistanis were among the dead and wounded.
"We have eyewitnesses who said they heard two blasts," said Vinoo Narain Mathur, general manager of India's Northern Railways. "Police have found a detonator at the scene."
Television channels showed rescue workers sifting through ash and cinders in two charred carriages as witnesses spoke of a sudden ball of fire.
"We were sleeping when I heard the blast," a sobbing survivor told Times Now Television.
"The doors were closed, we couldn't open them, I felt suffocated," he said, showing a heavily bandaged hand.
"There was panic among the passengers ... There was total chaos in the train," said a survivor named by the Press Trust of India as Zubaida.
Wasim Khan arrived looking for his Pakistani uncle who was on the train.
"I don't know what has happened to him," he told Star News.
Times Now said it took one and a half hours for rescue workers to arrive at the scene at Deewana.
The cross-border train service represents a rapprochement between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since the subcontinent won independence from Britain in 1947.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of lending support to an Islamic rebellion in Indian-administered Kashmir, where violence since the start of the insurgency in 1989 has killed at least 44,000 people.
Islamabad denies supporting the insurgency.
The Friendship Express was suspended in 2002 because of tensions following an attack on India's parliament in December 2001 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants. It was restarted in January 2004.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->