Injured dies, Bengal blast toll seven
Nov 21, 2006 - 6:46:27 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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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.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), Nov 21 (IANS) A severely injured child succumbed to injuries Tuesday, taking the death toll to seven in the West Bengal train blast a day earlier, although unofficial sources claim 10 people died.
'The death toll has touched seven and the number of injured is 50-odd,' Inspector General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS Tuesday.
Unconfirmed reports said 10 people died in the Monday evening blast on the Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri Passenger train at around 6.30 p.m. Monday at Belakoba station in Jalpaiguri, about 615 km north of Kolkata.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Tuesday said a compensation of Rs.50,000 would be paid to the family of each deceased while Rs.20,000 would be given to each injured besides the cost of the treatment.
'We are probing the blast. It was powerful and we cannot say right now whether RDX was used,' said Kanojia.
Forensic experts have left for the spot besides a criminal investigation department team of the West Bengal police.
The needle of suspicion had initially pointed towards the militant organisation Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) based in the area as well as the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) of Assam.
However, well-placed sources in the government in New Delhi said the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) could be behind the blast.
The explosion, which ripped through the second compartment (8321) of the passenger train, went off near the toilet of the coach that was to be added to the Darjeeling Mail at New Jalpaiguri.
The train coaches, travelling from Cooch Behar district's Haldibari, were to join with 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.
No outfit has claimed responsibility for the blast that comes four months after the July 11 bombings on suburban trains in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people.
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.
Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said: 'We cannot say who are behind it but it is definitely some terrorist outfit.'
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.
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