Bomb Defused on Indian Train Carrying 1,000 People
Indian security forces defused a powerful bomb found on a train carrying about 1,000 passengers in the northeastern state of Assam on Friday, a police official told Agence France Presse.
"Security forces were conducting a routine search when they found an unattended small but heavy bag and on suspicion they checked and detected the bomb neatly concealed," Assam's inspector general Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said.
The bomb was found in the early hours Friday just before the train pulled into the state capital Guwahati.
"It was an improvised explosive device weighing about 5 kilograms and fitted with a timer. It was a powerful bomb," Mahanta said.
All passengers were evacuated immediately, before bomb disposal experts disabled the device.
At least 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the tea- and oil-rich region of Assam due to fighting between government forces and rebel groups demanding independence from India.
Earlier this year, one of the strongest rebel groups, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) announced it would join peace talks in a move to end a 31-year-old insurgency.
No-one claimed responsibility for Friday's attempted bomb attack, but officials told AFP they suspected the involvement of a local militant group opposed to ongoing negotiations.
India has been wracked by separatist conflicts since its independence in 1947, with deadly insurgencies in its northwestern Kashmir region and the northeast.
Source: Agence France Presse
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