Blasts in train at Chennai kill passenger, alert issued

Friday, 2 May 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Two bombs went off on a train in the southern Indian city of Chennai on Thursday, killing a woman and wounding nine people, officials said, prompting a security alert in the middle of a mammoth election. No group has claimed responsibility for the rare attack in the city and police officials said they had no suspects for the moment. Security is already tight in India as it nears the finish line of the world’s biggest election that began early last month and is due to end later in May. Tens of thousands of police have been deployed for the vote.

Explosive devices concealed under seats went off in two coaches shortly after the train stopped at Chennai’s Central Station at about 7 a.m. Two of the nine injured were seriously hurt. “The incident consists of minor-intensity blasts in two coaches,” Rakesh Misra, General Manager of Southern Railway, told reporters. “Both are sleeper-class coaches.”

No arrests have been made so far, said Anoop Jaiswal, a senior police officer. “We’re questioning a lot of passengers,” he said. A team from the National Investigation Agency has joined the investigation in Chennai, an official said. A security alert was issued in Tamil Nadu state as well as in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh further afield. Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, tipped to be India’s next Prime Minister as head of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was due to campaign in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. Even before the explosions, security agencies had increased surveillance on suspected members of the Islamist Indian Mujahideen group, which has carried out a wave of low-level attacks in towns across India in recent years. Police believe the IM was behind blasts at a campaign rally that Modi addressed in eastern India last October. The IM, which says it wants to establish a caliphate, poses the most serious threat so far from a home-grown group in Hindu-majority India.

Sri Lanka condemns Chennai train bomb attack

The Government yesterday strongly condemned the twin blasts that took place at the Chennai Central Railway Station on a train that had arrived from Bengalooru. “The people of Sri Lanka share the pain and anguish of the Indian people over this wanton act of violence targeting innocent civilians,” the Government said in a statement. “The Government and the people of Sri Lanka offer their deep condolences to the Government and the people of India, particularly the bereaved family, and wish a speedy recovery for those who have been injured in this cowardly attack,” the statement added.