A BOMB shattered a sleeper coach in an Indian train early yesterday, killing 12 passengers and injuring 37 in what police said could mark a surge in separatist violence in the volatile Punjab region.
The blast and ensuing fire destroyed the sleeper compartment and damaged an adjoining carriage at Ambala cantonment station near Chandigarh, capital of the northern state of Punjab.
Police said they believed the sophisticated explosive RDX was used but they were still investigating.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility. But police said they feared the blast could be part of an escalation of violence before state assembly elections in Punjab due by next February.
"It could be a revival of militant activity because of pending elections in Punjab," a senior police officer, Mr Satyendra Kumar, said in Ambala.
Railway officials said there were 61 passengers in the second class sleeper carriage when the bomb exploded. Witnesses said it took rescuers nearly half an hour to show up, and that the blaze in the wood and steel carriage prevented them from reaching any victims for two hours.
Rescuers pulled 10 bodies from the charred carriage, and two injured passengers died later. Thirty seven people were taken to hospital, eight of whom were later discharged, and three were in serious condition.
The bombing follows the killing on Sunday night of a leader of a splinter group of the regional Akali Dal party. Mr Bnchittar Singh, a former state legislator from the Akali Dal (Badal) faction, was ambushed by five gunmen who opened fire on the jeep in which he was travelling in Ropar district of Punjab, about 20 km from Chandigarh police said.
The Akali Dal is the political arm of many Sikhs who oppose separatist violence in Punjab state.
Mr Gaurav Yadav, police chief in Mohali town, near Chandigarh said Mr Singh's murder appeared to be unrelated to militancy.