Guwahati, July 10 (IANS) Separatists bombed a passenger train Sunday night leaving at least 50 people injured, several of them critically, in India’s restive northeastern state of Assam, officials said.


A police spokesman said preliminary reports indicate an explosion took place when the Guwahati-Puri Express was nearing Ghograpara in western Assam, about 70 km from Assam’s main city of Guwahati. The incident took place around 8.30 pm.

“Four coaches of the train derailed trapping scores of passengers, leaving many of them seriously injured. We suspect it was an explosion,” a senior police official.

The train was bound for Puri in Orissa.

“There was a loud explosion and it was total chaos soon after. Four of the coaches derailed and one of the bogies skidded and went at least 20 meters from the track,” Dhanmoni Das, a local who helped several of the injured come out of the train, told IANS.

Both the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) are active in the region.

The accident comes on the day 14 coaches of the speeding Kalka Mail derailed in Uttar Pradesh, killing about 35 people and leaving at least 150 injured.