The Hindu : 12 killed in Mumbai train blast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 14, 2003

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12 killed in Mumbai train blast

By Arunkumar Bhatt

A view of the mangled compartment of the Karjat-bound EMU train in which a powerful explosion killed nine commuters and injured 65 in Mumbai on Thursday night. — PTI

MUMBAI March 13. A dozen commuters, mostly women, were killed and scores of others injured in a powerful blast in the ladies compartment of a crowded suburban local train at the Mulund station here this evening killed. Among the dead were some women constables.

The explosion was so powerful that it ripped off the roof of the train's first class bogie a with a grill partition for men and women. Three other bogies were also damaged in the blast. The victims were returning home from work when the mishap occurred. Mulund is the last eastern suburb of Mumbai. The deadly device went off as the Karjat-bound fast train pulled in at the Mulund station's platform No. 3 at around 8.45 p.m., having left the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus about an hour before. It was on a fast track of the suburban section of the Central Railway, and perhaps, not expected to stop at Mulund.

The bogie is seventh from the motorman's (driver) cabin. According to a railway source, the police found pieces of a pan masala tin, making them suspect whether it was a component of the device. If the tin was the container of the bomb, then looking at its size, only a small quantity of explosive was used. Its powerful nature indicated that it was a sophisticated and high-powered explosive, perhaps the dreaded RDX.

A police source said the bomb was suspected to have been placed under a seat in the compartment.

A terrorist attack: Bhujbal

The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, who rushed to the station, described the blast as a terrorist attack. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast. It was being rumoured since yesterday that a terrorist attack would take place as it was the tenth anniversary of the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai that had claimed 257 lives. This is the third blast in the city in recent times.

The Central Railway suspended all trains passing through Mulund but later restored the services on the slow tracks of No. 1 and 2 so that thousands of commuters would not be stranded.

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