Terrorists Strike Samjhota Express

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007 02 20 story_20-2-2007_pg7_9

Survivors recount train inferno

PANIPAT: Survivors told on Monday how a ball of fire incinerated dozens of passengers and reduced two carriages of the India-Pakistan “Friendship Express” to charred wrecks. Kamaruddin, 60, from Multan in Pakistan, said chaos spread quickly through the train after a deadly cocktail of kerosene and explosives went off.

“I was sitting towards the end of one of the two coaches when I heard a deafening sound within few feet away from me,” said Kamaruddin. “The whole place was full of smoke and I could hear a lot of people screaming for help but I could not move.” He was taken unconscious from the scene at Deewana and awoke at a nearby hospital in Panipat.

A crowd of other injured survivors and frantic relatives struggled at the hospital to make sense of the attack. “There was a huge fire and I saw smoke coming out,” said Usman Ali, who hails from Lahore. “When I came out of the coach, I saw that the doors of one (carriage) were closed and people could not escape,” he told AFP. A man who identified himself only as Anwar said four of his Pakistani relatives from a family of six, including two children, were among the 66 dead. He held out hope that two boys had survived but was unable to enter Panipat’s Phim Sensachar Civil Hospital to check. “The doctors are not allowing me to go in. The doctors say the post-mortem has to be completed first.” A doctor said that verification could take time because of the severity of the inferno that burnt out two coaches of the train. “It’s very difficult to say who the victims were,” said Dr Ved Gupta, head of post-mortem operations at the hospital in Panipat. “Most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition,” he said. “It is difficult to say who is who, whether they are Indians or Pakistanis.” Outside the hospital more than a dozen wooden coffins lined the boundary wall of the mortuary as trucks brought slabs of ice for other bodies that were placed in bags. Sayed Ahmed, 64, from a small village in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, said he had two relatives from Pakistan who were on the train but could not identify the burnt remains.

“They’re all in body bags. I can’t recognise anybody,” he said. A dozen injured people were moved to New Delhi from the hospital. Other survivors were spread inside the hospital grounds. afp

#9

The televised eyewitness accounts do not support this report. Noone heard any blast at all.

Any large blast would have derailed the train first.

In any case, it is agreed that the exolosives, if any, were low-intensity and petrol based. If so, these would have to be on the inside and not the outside to completely gut the cars from the inside. If that was the case, then it`s a major security lapse by India.

#10 by zeemax

After preliminary investigations, officials have concluded that the explosives were low-intensity and were probably placed inside the train at Delhi. Reports also indicate that two men got off the train just as it started from Delhi and another two got off just a few minutes before the blast when the train slowed down after an argument with a Railway Protection Force officer.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007 02 20 story_20-2-2007_pg7_10

Bomber’s deadly work on show beside tracks

DEEWANA: By the side of a railway track just outside the Indian capital, a grey suitcase lies split open, revealing a bomber’s deadly work. More than a dozen plastic bottles are packed inside, carrying a highly inflammable cocktail of fuel oils and chemicals, mixed with pieces of cloth to prolong the fire. Covering them, a foam pad embedded with a small electronic circuit board in a transparent plastic box. Coloured wires, now snipped, connect to a metal timer the size of a pencil and a thin, black torch-like detonator. Alongside, a plastic bag with a yellowish powder – thought to be sulphur – is packed in cotton wool.

Two bombs like this detonated around midnight on Sunday on a train bound from India to Pakistan, sparking fires that killed at 66 people, most of them Pakistanis. This was one of two bombs that was found later on other carriages and defused. Who planted the deadly bombs, no one yet knows. But they clearly knew what they were doing. “These were made by experts,” a police officer told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. “There was a light blinking on the outside of the suitcases probably to indicate that the timer had been set,” he said, as trains crawled by on the track alongside. Hours after the carnage, explosive experts from India’s elite National Security Guard sat beside the tracks, surrounded by lush green wheat fields, examining the defused bomb. “This seems like the act of local groups who used local materials and locally available technology,” a senior forensic scientist told Reuters. Less than a mile away, skeletons of the ill-fated coaches stand on a side track near the Deewana railway station, their blue paint peeled off by the heat to reveal a collage of black, grey and rust. Window railings, seats and luggage racks have become a mass of burnt metal. The floor is strewn with someone’s half-burned red shawl, remnants of bags, water bottles and kettles. A hint of burned flesh lingers in the air. Investigators search the coaches for clues, stamping out cinders and raising wisps of smoke as they went. Every time a train passes on the parallel track, ash and pieces of broken, burned paint from the coaches are thrown into the air. “Many, many more would have died if the other two (bombs) had also gone off,” said AS Ahlawat, a police officer in Deewana town, about 80 km north of the Indian capital. reuters

``#10 by zeemax on February 19, 2007 11:52pm PT
Any large blast would have derailed the train first. ``

i don`t think that it is necessary for the train to be derailed. the bombay bomb blasts that took place in local trains in bombay were fairly powerful bombs. but i don`t think that any of the trains were derailed.

from tv reports, these bombs were more meant for starting a fire which would have automatically killed people because the doors are closed. the unexploded bombs that have been recovred show a small explovise device linked to a timer with 6 to 8 bottles of kerosene packed in a suitcase. so its obvious that the aim is to start a big fire and the flames will do the rest.

a very sad thing has happened. i hope the people who committed this crime are caught and publicly shot.

rgds,

devkant.

#13 by devkant

from tv reports, these bombs were more meant for starting a fire which would have automatically killed people because the doors are closed.

The plan seems to have been well thought out and executed. For a start, the devices were timed to explode at around midnight when most passengers were asleep and the doors were locked to prevent unauthorized people from entering the train. The intent seems to have been to create maximum casualties with minimum effort (evidenced by the use of low-intensity explosive and the timing). Also, help cannot be summoned as easily it can be during day time. Thirdly, Deewana is not an urban center where one can reasonably avail of fire tender services quickly. The compartments caught fire at around 11:55 PM when the bombs went off, but the first fire tenders arrived only at 12:30 AM, by which time, the compartments were already completely charred and the damage done.

#11 by harish_hyd

Reports also indicate that two men got off the train just as it started from Delhi and another two got off just a few minutes before the blast when the train slowed down..

How come people were getting on and off? Wasn`t the train sealed after departure?

#13 by devkant

Devkant, the bombay train bombs were `inside` the carriages, and not outside along the tracks as is being claimed in this case.

Harish, zeemax....the report also says that before the two chaps got off the train minutes before the blasts, they had had a heated 20 min arguement with the security personel on the train.

all in all, train security in india leave a lot to be desired.

rgds,

devkant.

#15 by zeemax

How come people were getting on and off? Wasn`t the train sealed after departure?

Apparently, the two men who got off just before the blasts argued with the RPF officer about wanting to go to Ahmedabad. The RPF officer is said to have asked them to get off because it wasn`t going anywhere near Ahmedabad, and the men got off when the train slowed down just before Deewana, where the blasts occurred.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations, one thing is clear. That it is a massive failure on the part of the India to provide adequate security to the travelers.

#16 by zeemax

Devkant, the bombay train bombs were `inside` the carriages, and not outside along the tracks as is being claimed in this case.

Nope..AFAIK, what is being claimed is that there were two blasts inside the train, while one suitcase containing explosives was thrown out by a Pakistani passenger on suspicion that it could be a bomb, and it landed along the tracks. Fortunately, it didn`t explode and was later defused by the bomb-disposal squad.

2 got off train when it started, 2 before blast

Excerpt:

``Officials said they will question Rana Shaukat Ali, one of the injured admitted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi (see his story below), who told authorities he saw two men in his coach get into an altercation with an RPF constable near the Samalkha railway station. Kashmir Singh, the constable, died in the explosion later.

Sources quoted Ali as having told officials he overheard two “suspicious-looking” men as telling the constable that they wanted to go to Ahmedabad. “When they were told the train does not go to Ahmedabad, they said they would get off when it slows down,” sources said, quoting Ali.

Ali apparently saw the two men — they had mufflers on — jump off the train as it slowed before Diwana railway station.

Within minutes, the bombs went off, sources quoted Ali as having said.``

2 got off train when it started, 2 before blast

devkant/harish,

Still doesn`t add up. So the fire source was indeed inside the train. But then did the bomber set-off the timers, then argued with the guard for twenty minutes? And the bomb went off as soon as the guard relented and let him off?

Doesn`t add up at all. Do read Vereesh`s article for a possible explanation. Chemicals being smuggled which accidently caught fire.

#22 by zeemax on February 20, 2007 2:20am PT

vereesh`s article could have been credible had 2 suitcases of unexploded bombs not been found. but the fact that 2 unexploded bombs have been found means that it was a terrorist strike.

now what happened a few minutes before the blast can be only guess work which i find most media channela indulging in currently.

note one more thing....according to the daily time pakistan, 64 of the 68 victims are pakistanis. this could have very well been some hindu fanatic who committed the crime. given that its a fashion (many time true also) to blame pakistan for terrorist attacks in india, i wouldn`t be surprised to find that some hindu fanatic committed this crime and hoped that all attention would be diverted to pakistanis and muslims.

rgds,

devkant.

#23 by devkant

Yes ... well ... it can be both possibilities. It is still not known who bombed the bombay trains. Noone claimed responsibility. And it is not unknown to plant evidence either.

I guess further details will emerge. Or perhaps not.