Guwahati, Dec 13 (IANS) The police started a massive anti-insurgency operation in Assam Thursday after a shadowy Adivasi rebel group carried out a powerful bomb attack on a super-fast train, killing five passengers and injuring four, two of them critically.
“An intensive operation has begun in select areas to pin down the militants,” a senior police official said.
A railway official said the blast took place around 1.05 a.m. Thursday on the Rajdhani Express near Chungajan in Golaghat district, about 270 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.
“Five people were killed and four injured with the impact of the explosion hitting a portion of the luggage van of the train,” T. Rabha, chief spokesman of the Northeast Frontier Railways, told IANS.
Hours after the attack, the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA), a rag-tag militant group, claimed the responsibility for the blast even as the police were speculating on the identity of the attackers.
“Our cadres triggered the blast, using a remote system and we shall continue with such attacks in the coming days,” Dilip Beg, a top ANLA leader, told IANS by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The ANLA leader said his group would not remain quiet until the government conferred the Scheduled Tribes status on the Adivasis of Assam that would bring in more rights and privileges for the community in the state.
“We have been forced to take up arms by the government and we shall not rest until our community gets special recognition like a Scheduled Tribe status,” Beg said.
The ALNA is a little-known rebel group active in Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of eastern Assam and fighting for special rights for the Adivasis, one of the 120 tea plantation workers community.
The blast did not derail the ill-fated train and all other passengers were safe. The train originating from Dibrugarh in eastern Assam left for New Delhi via Guwahati after a delay of about six hours.
Two of the four injured were stated to be critical. The blast, that rattled sleeping passengers, created panic among travellers. The injured were shifted to a hospital in Dimapur, the commercial hub of the adjoining Nagaland state.
“I presume the bomb was planted in the toilet of the parcel van. People started screaming and crying when the explosion took place,” said Rajinder Singh, an army personnel travelling in the train.
Bimla Singh, another passenger, remained dazed for hours. “I was (in a coach) just two coaches behind (the luggage van). I am really scared,” she said.
There was partial damage to the tracks with two sleepers affected. The damaged track was quickly repaired.
The police suspected the bomb could have been planted inside the non air-conditioned section having a capacity to carry some 40 passengers along with cargo.
“Preliminary investigations and a look at the extent of damage caused to the tracks indicate the bomb could have been placed in the luggage van itself although a final report is awaited,” Golaghat district police chief P.C. Haloi told IANS.
All the dead passengers were from Bihar, the police official said. They were identified as Satya Prasad, 24, Sudarshan Rai, 45, Lakshman Rai, 44, A K Singh 20, and D. Prasad 19.
On Dec 4, a powerful explosion hit the engine of a passenger train in the same area, although it failed to impact the coaches. The Kamrup Express was bound for Tinsukia in eastern Assam from Guwahati when the blast took place.