Assam train blast 2 december 2008

GUWAHATI: Three people were killed and more than 30 wounded Tuesday in a blast that ripped through a passenger train in the northeastern state of Assam, police officials said.

A police spokesman said the explosion went off as the train was stopped at a railway station about 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

One person died on the spot and two succumbed to their injuries at a local hospital.

“There are a large number of women and children among the casualties,” the spokesman said.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but the outlawed Karbi Longri National Liberation Front, fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Karbi tribe, is known to be active in the area.

Last 30 October blast claims 89 people and injured 200 people. 26 November terrorist attacked in Mumbai and killed at least 200 people injured 300 peole.

The Karbi Liongri National Liberation Front, enforcing an “indefinite economic blockade” on national highways and rail tracks in the state, allegedly planted the bomb in a general compartment of Tinsukia-Lumding passenger train which exploded around 8 am, police said.

Two passengers, including a child, were killed and 30 others injured, they said, adding that the injured have been rushed to hospitals.

District Superintendent of Police A K Sarma said that the police had beefed up security in the district in the wake of prior information about the militants’ plan to explode bombs in Diphu town, headquarters of Karbi Anglong district, besides Bokajan and Howraghat towns.

Due to intensified vigil, the militants failed to plant explosive devices in Diphu town and, instead detonated a bomb with a timer device inside the train as it was approaching Diphu railway station, he said.

The KLNLF has called the economic blockade of railway tracks and National Highways 37 and 39 in the district demanding responses from political parties to their 10-point demands, which include among others, exclusion of Karbi Anglong land from ‘Dimaraji’ as demanded by another militant outfit, Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), in neighbouring N C Hills.

Sarma said police has also recovered two bombs also suspected to have been planted by KLNLF militants at the Dokmoka area of the town.

 

If Mumbai trains are said to be packed like sardines, then how will you describe this train journey in Pakistan? Though this ordeal appears not to be an everyday affair, the picture is an eye-opener in many ways, seeking questions on security and law and order in Pakistan.

Trivia: Can anyone spot the train?

Image: Pilgrims cling on to a departing train after attending an annual religious congregation in Multan on November 2. The annual three-day Dawat-e-Islami congregation concluded with collective noon prayers.

Photograph: Mohammed Malik/AFP/Getty Images

 

If Mumbai trains are said to be packed like sardines, then how will you describe this train journey in Pakistan? Though this ordeal appears not to be an everyday affair, the picture is an eye-opener in many ways, seeking questions on security and law and order in Pakistan.

Trivia: Can anyone spot the train?

Image: Pilgrims cling on to a departing train after attending an annual religious congregation in Multan on November 2. The annual three-day Dawat-e-Islami congregation concluded with collective noon prayers.

Photograph: Mohammed Malik/AFP/Getty Images

 

If Mumbai trains are said to be packed like sardines, then how will you describe this train journey in Pakistan? Though this ordeal appears not to be an everyday affair, the picture is an eye-opener in many ways, seeking questions on security and law and order in Pakistan.

Trivia: Can anyone spot the train?

Image: Pilgrims cling on to a departing train after attending an annual religious congregation in Multan on November 2. The annual three-day Dawat-e-Islami congregation concluded with collective noon prayers.

Photograph: Mohammed Malik/AFP/Getty Images

 

Pakistan recovers ‘US spy drone’

Pakistan recovers ‘US spy drone’

Surveillance drones have been widely used by Nato in Afghanistan

The Pakistani army is investigating the wreckage of a suspected US spy plane found near the Afghan border, but has rejected claims it was shot down. A military spokesman told the BBC that the drone was recovered on Tuesday in the South Waziristan tribal area and the wreckage was being examined. The spokesman said the crash appeared to have been due to a malfunction. The US military has confirmed a drone crashed but said it occurred in eastern Afghanistan due to engine failure. US Army Captain Christian Patterson told the Reuters news agency that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was being operated by US armed forces when it crashed. “It was recovered immediately after it went down,” he said. “It wasn’t close to the border.” Meanwhile, fighting between Pakistani troops and Taleban militants is continuing in the tribal region of Bajaur. In Quetta, capital of south-western Balochistan province, a young girl was killed in a suicide bombing. About a dozen military personnel were also injured in the assault on an army vehicle. ‘Detailed investigation’ The drone found on the Pakistani side of the border was discovered in the Zohba mountain range in Waziristan, a Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold. Locals living in a village at the foot of the range say they were looking for wood on the mountainside when they came across the plane. “It was rather small for a plane,” one villager told the BBC, adding: “It couldn’t be more than 10 feet long.”

Locals say five men carried the drone down off the mountainside and informed the army. Soldiers then took the aircraft away, as well as other debris from the site where it had crashed. “A surveillance UAV, while flying over the Pak-Afghan border yesterday [Tuesday] night, crash-landed on this side of the border… apparently due to malfunctioning,” a Pakistani military spokesman said. “The wreckage of the UAV has been recovered from the site by the security forces personnel and the matter is under detailed investigation,” the spokesman said in a statement. The statement did not say who the drone belonged to, but security officials said they were in no doubt it was an American aircraft. The BBC’s Dilawar Khan says this is the second such crash in the region in recent years. Two years ago, a similar drone crashed near the town of Miranshah in North Waziristan. The latest crash comes amid recent reports that Pakistani troops have opened fire to prevent the US forces from operating inside Pakistan. Different account “No firing was heard in the area so there is no question of it being shot down,” a senior Pakistani security official told AFP. Tensions in the border region are rising

But some residents gave a different account. “The tribesmen fired at the drone and it fell out of the sky,” one unnamed resident told AFP. US President George Bush said on Tuesday that he wanted to help Pakistan protect itself. He was speaking moments before his first meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Mr Bush did not refer directly to the controversial US strikes in Pakistan that have caused bilateral tensions. There is growing anger in Pakistan at the US forces in Afghanistan violating Pakistani sovereignty.

 

Streets calm in riot-hit Mongolia

The streets of the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, are reported to be calm, two days after rioting that left five people dead.. The situation had stabilised, the justice minister said, and police had replaced troops on the streets. A state of emergency remains in place in the wake of the violence which erupted on Tuesday night. Thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against alleged fraud in Sunday’s general election. Officials results have not yet been released but preliminary results give the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) a comfortable win. Opposition supporters allege the poll was rigged, although international monitors say it was free and fair. Rare violence On Thursday morning the capital was quiet and fewer troops were to be seen, reports said. “The situation has stabilised and there is no immediate danger of violence so armed forces have been removed from strategic positions and have been replaced by police,” Justice Minister Tsend Munkhorgil told the French news agency, AFP. Wednesday saw a heavy troop presence in Ulan Bator in the wake of Tuesday’s late-night riots. Protesters torched cars and buildings in the capital, and widespread looting was reported. Five people died and more than 300 were injured, Mr Munkhorgil said. Several hundred arrests were made and a four-day state of emergency was imposed. It was a rare outbreak of violence in Mongolia, which borders China and Russia. Frustration over the election was exacerbated by tensions over corruption and a growing rich-poor divide, correspondents say.

Source: BBC