Diphu (Assam), Dec 02: 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.
Meanwhile, panic spread in the busy Ganeshguri area
near the Dispur capital complex in Guwahati, one of the
targets of the October 30 blasts, following a bomb scare
inside a Ganesh temple this morning.
The main entrance of the temple, adjacent to the state
assembly and secretariat, was sealed off and police carried
investigation but nothing was found, sources said.
On the other hand, rail movement in Karbi Anglong was
not affected as the affected train was on line number three at
the approach to Diphu station and not the main line, a
Northeast Frontier Railway spokesman said.
The Guwahati-Jorhat Superfast Jan Satabdi Express and
a passenger train to Dimapur had been restricted before Diphu
but were allowed to move later.
The NFR announced it will pay an ex-gratia amount of
Rs 15,000 to the deceased's kin, Rs 5,000 to the seriously
injured and Rs 500 to the injured, he said.
MHA seeks report, Railway orders probe
The Union Home Ministry today
asked for a report from the Assam government on fresh violence
and blast in a train in Karbi Anglong district in which five
persons were killed.
An inquiry has been ordered by the railways into the
blast in the Tinsukia-Lumding passenger train in which three
persons, including a child, were killed and 34 injured,
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said.
Admitting lapses on the part of the staff in detecting
the bomb, Lalu said those found responsible for it would not
be spared.
Bureau Report