Pakistan Condemns: Blast in Samjhota Express Kills 66    
‘Pakistan Times’ Monitoring Desk

PANIPAT (India): The death toll in fire on the Samjhota Express, which reportedly erupted after blasts in the train in the northern Indian state of Haryana, has increased to 66, reports said on Monday.

Over 50 people have been injured in the tragic incident. The reports said that the death toll could still increase.

Five unexploded bombs have also been recovered from the train. Several people with burns have been pulled from the carriages but firemen are still fighting the blaze.

Two carriages of the train have been completely destroyed as a result of the fire.

The coaches of the Samjhauta Express train -- which connects New Delhi to Pakistan’s city of Lahore -- caught fire near Panipat town, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the Indian capital, around midnight on Sunday (18:30 GMT).

The train was on its way from the Indian capital, Delhi to Lahore in Pakistan via the border crossing point of Wagah.

Meanwhile, a senior Indian railway official said that the incident was suspected to be an act of sabotage.

"It appears to be a case of sabotage. We have found two suitcases, there were IEDs in them," B.N. Mathur, a railway official told reporters referring to the explosive devices.

Resume Journey

The unaffected coaches of an ill-fated train in which at least 64 passengers, including Pakistanis, were killed early on Monday in a suspected terrorist attack were allowed to resume journey to Atari from near Panipat.

The unaffected coaches, numbering 8, of the Samjhauta Express between Delhi and Lahore were allowed to resume their onward journey to Atari, the last station on the Indian side, 25 km ahead of Amritsar.

A devastating fire engulfed two coaches - No 10 and 11 - of the Atari Special 4001 train just after 1 am on Monday near Panipat in Haryana. Most of the passengers were killed due to burns and suffocation inside the two coaches. Scores of other passengers were injured, 20 of them critically.

The passengers who were not injured in the fire will continue their journey to Pakistan. The train was thoroughly searched before being allowed permission to proceed.

Pakistan for Punishment

Pakistan has called the incident of fire after explosions in Samjhota Express a terrorism act and condemned loss of precious lives in the incident.

Samjhota Express is a cross-border train runs between Pakistan and India.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam talking to newsmen in Islamabad denounced the terrorism act and demanded punishment to perpetrators of the incident.

The spokesperson said that according to initial reports most of the persons died in the incident are Pakistan nationals.

Aslam said that security of train was responsibility of India in the Indian territory and hoped that the perpetrators of the incident would be punished for the heinous act.

Horrendous Act of Terrorism

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri Monday condemned a train blast in India which killed at least 66 people as a "horrendous act of terrorism" and said most of the victims were Pakistanis.

Kasuri said he had asked the Indian government to investigate the incident overnight on a Samjhota Express.

"It is a horrendous act of terrorism," Kasuri told reporters during a function at the foreign office.

"I would like the Indian government to investigate this incident. We are waiting for the results of the investigation," he said.

The minister said he had instructed the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to send staff to the site to help Pakistan nationals caught up in the blast.

Earlier Report

An earlier report had said that at least 20 people have been killed and several injured in a fire on Samjhauta Express in the northern Indian state of Haryana.

The Indian authorities said that the death toll could increase. Yet another report said that a number of people have been killed.

Some people with burns have been pulled from the carriages but firemen are still fighting the blaze, said the report.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but the early reports indicated an electrical short circuit might be the cause of fire.

According to Indian media reports it might be the incident of terrorism and two explosives were recovered from the train.

Two carriages of the train have been completely destroyed as a result of the fire.

The blasts aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan that killed at least 64 people were probably "an act of terror," the spokesman for India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday.

"This is what it suggests, that it was an act of terror," spokesman Sanyaja Baru said.

A top state government official said most of the victims were Pakistanis but included some Indian security personnel.

And India’s Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters Monday that the explosion on board a train in northern India, which left at least 64 people dead, ‘was caused by sabotage.’

Explosives were found in two suitcases on board the train, which directly pointed to sabotage, he said.

"At least 64 people are dead," said Yadav, who was heading to the scene of the disaster about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of New Delhi. The blast happened shortly after midnight on Sunday.

In-depth

According to a foreign news agency report a train traveling to Pakistan caught fire early Monday in northern India, killing at least 64 people, and officials said two suitcases filled with flammable material that appeared to be explosive devices were found at the scene.

V.N. Mathur, general manager of the Northern Railway, said one of the suitcases was found inside a burned train car and the other was on the railroad track.

Even before investigators confirmed the fire was the result of an attack, India's railway officials held responsible those, who, he said were bent on harming relations between longtime rivals India and Pakistan.

"It was an attempt to derail the improving ties between the two countries," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad told Press Trust of India news agency. "Whoever is behind it will be caught and punished."

Soon after the fire broke out, residents living near the tracks rushed to scene with buckets of water. The blaze was eventually extinguished after fire trucks arrived.

"We have 64 bodies," India's junior railway minister, R. Velu, told reporters at the scene.

The fire engulfed two cars of the Samjhauta Express, one of two train links between India and Pakistan.

Because of security concerns, the train is kept sealed with locked doors and barred windows in the lower-class coaches when it travels from New Delhi to the border. Passengers may have been trapped inside the burning cars.

The fire broke out just before the train reached the station in the village of Deewana, about 50 miles north of New Delhi.

Mathur told reporters at least 30 passengers who were burned and injured in the blaze have been hospitalized in the nearby town of Panipat.

The train was traveling from New Delhi to Atari, the last railroad station before the border with Pakistan. At Atari, passengers change trains in a special station, switching to a Pakistani train that takes them to the Pakistan’s city of Lahore.

Within hours of the fire, authorities detached the burned cars and the rest of the train continued on to the India-Pakistan border.

The train links are one of the most visible results of the peace process under way between India and Pakistan, and one of the easiest ways to travel across the border.

Relations between the two countries have warmed in recent years.

They now hold talks regularly, and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri was due to arrive in New Delhi tomorrow, Tuesday for more discussions.

About 84 percent of India's more than 1 billion people are Hindu, and Muslims account for about 14 percent.

APJ Abdul Kalam

Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam on Monday expressed grief over the loss of lives in the explosions onboard the Samjhota Express train.

"The president expresses grief over the tragic incident in which a number of people lost their lives," a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.

Sonia Gandhi

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday condemned the ghastly blasts on the Samjhota train at Deewana near Panipat and appealed to people of India and Pakistan to stand up firmly against enemies of humanity.

"Gandhi has condemned the barbaric act of violence in the Samjhauta Express and has appealed to the people of India and Pakistan to stand up firmly against such enemies of humanity," a party spokesman said.

Manmohan Singh

Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh expressed anguish and grief over the train tragedy and said the culprits will be caught.

"The Prime Minister expressed anguish and grief at the loss of lives. The culprits will be caught," a PMO spokesman said.

Enquiry Numbers

'Pakistan Times' Punjab Bureau adds from Lahore; Following are the enquiry numbers to get information about Samjhota Express tragedy:

Lahore Railway Station: 042-9201795, 042- 9201692,042-9201110.

Phone calls from from overseas shall require Country-code pre-fix for Pakistan as; 0092 by deleting 0 of the City-code.

This would, thus be 0092 42-9201795 & 0092 42- 9201692,0092 42-9201110 for calls to Pakistan from abroad.

Urgent Visas

Indian High Commission on Monday set up a temporary visa camp in Lahore to facilitate immediate travel by the relatives of those killed or injured in the Samjhauta Express explosion.

"Visas will be issued immediately for the relatives of the passengers who were either killed or injured in the incident so that they could travel to the Indian side," Indian High Commission in Islamabad said in a statement.

The relatives of the passengers can get visa from the high commission at Islamabad diplomatic enclave, and from a visa camp set up in Grand Hotel, 9-A Davis Road in Lahore, the statement said.

The Indian High Commission has announced following telephone numbers for enquiry and information.

Islamabad: 051-2206950, 051-2828377, 051-2828378

Lahore: 042-6360014, 0345-551-4576●