Fresh blast as toll rises in train bombing

India
Fresh blast as toll rises in train bombing
By Indo Asian News Service, Nov 22, 2006 - 1:03:50 AM

Jalpaiguri/Kolkata, Nov 21 (IANS) The death toll in Monday's train bombing in West Bengal rose to seven Tuesday even as a landmine exploded in a rural part of Midnapore in the eastern state injuring two paramilitary personnel.

'The death toll in the train blast has touched seven and the number of injured is 50-odd,' Inspector General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS Tuesday.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who spoke to Home Minister Shivraj Patil about Monday's deadly blast, told the state assembly that seven people were killed and 52 injured.

The blast occurred on the Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri Passenger train at around 6.30 p.m. at the Belakoba station in Jalpaiguri, about 650 km north of Kolkata.

'We are probing the blast. It was powerful and we cannot say right now whether RDX was used. A high-level CID (Criminal Investigation Department) team has left for the spot. Forensic experts have also gone there,' said Kanojia.

'We have beefed up vigil in stations, bus terminals and other vital places,' he said.

A Maoist-triggered landmine explosion broke morning peace at Hatidoba in Belpahari of West Midnapore district Tuesday, injuring at least two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on patrol.

Police said the Monday explosion, which ripped through the coach of the passenger train travelling from Cooch Behar district's Haldibari, went off near the toilet of a general coach.

The affected coach was after two other coaches that were to be added to the Kolkata-bound Darjeeling Mail at the New Jalpaiguri station, the gateway to the northeast.

'The blast was so powerful that pieces of metal and glasses entered our rooms,' said a resident of Belakoba whose house is near the track.

The chief minister Tuesday announced a compensation of Rs.50,000 for the family of each of the deceased and Rs.20,000 for the injured besides the cost of their treatment.

The needle of suspicion remained pointed towards the militant organisation Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), based in the area, as well as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

Well-placed sources in the government said in New Delhi that the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) could be behind the blast.

West Bengal Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said: 'We cannot say who are behind it but it is definitely some terrorist outfit. We have asked for help from the central IB team and forensic experts.'

West Bengal Backward Class Minister and local legislator Jogesh Burman, who was to board the Darjeeling Mail from New Jalpaiguri, said the KLO was suspected to have triggered the blast but he said nothing could be said for certain without a thorough probe.

After killing several ruling Communist leaders, the KLO was lying low of late.

The objective of the KLO is to carve out a separate Kamtapur state comprising six north Bengal districts - Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur and Malda - and four contiguous districts of Assam - Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara.

KLO works in collaboration with the ULFA that is active in neighbouring Assam.

Police suspect the bomb was meant to explode at the New Jalpaiguri railway station, from where many people were expected to board. But the train was late and the blast occurred before it reached the station.

West Bengal's ruling Left Front has called for protest rallies against the blast while senior ministers and opposition leaders visited the scene of blast Tuesday.

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