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Terrorists blast train : Over 10 killed |
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An explosion ripped through the Patna-Delhi Shramjeevi Express train, near Jaunpur, in Uttar Pradesh, about 150 km. from the state capital, Lucknow on Thursday, July 28, killing over 10 people. About 80 others were injured in the incident. Sources say there is a strong possibility of militants’ hand in the bomb explosion. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who visited the blast site, described the incident as a terrorist act. He said that there was a visible attempt to unleash terror in eastern Uttar Pradesh, but said the Government is determined to foil these nefarious designs.
Following the incident, the authorities have stepped up vigilance on railway tracks and at railway stations.
Intelligence agencies suspect that the explosives material which caused the blast on the Shramjeevi Express train was part of a deadly stockpile meant for an attack in the national capital around Independence Day. There were strong indications that the explosive material was RDX.
Many places in Bihar have been on the scanner of intelligence agencies in the wake of Pakistan’s ISI attempts to use the porous borders with Nepal to push arms and ammunition into India. Security agencies had in the space of seven days, starting from July 10, made a big haul of arms and ammunition. The Sashastra Seema Bal, which patrols the Indo-Nepal Border, discovered a consignment of 240 electrical detonators in Madhubani, Bihar. This was followed by the seizure of arms in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), along with a suitcase of explosives.
Shoot out in Delhi Cantt
There was a heavy exchange of fire in Delhi Cantonment between unidentified assailants and Armymen on Friday, July 29, in which one Army person was injured. According to the police, a vehicle pulled up outside the gate of an army unit in the high security Delhi Cantt area. When he two sentries on duty asked them to move away, the vehicle drove away but returned a few minutes later. One of the two persons in the vehicle opened fire at the sentry with an automatic weapon. The sentry who was hit by one of the bullets returned the fire, but the assailants were able to get away. The police are not ruling out the involvement of terrorist elements in the shoot out.
Intelligence reports of fresh terror attacks
Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that there are intelligence reports that vital scientific installations and modern industries, besides individuals are under threat of a terrorist attack. Speaking during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Upper House of Parliament, Patil said both the Central and State security agencies have been asked to tighten the vigil at all threatened instillations to guard them against terrorist attacks.
According to sources in the MHA, the scientific installations under a high level of threat are Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay while the possible economic/industrial targets include oil installations, especially in the north-east. It is believed that the Mumbai Stock Exchange is also rated as a high risk building ever since the underworld targeted it during the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
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