India on full alert after blasts

NEW DELHI – Indian security forces went on their highest security alert and paramilitary troops were posted at railway stations after 66 people died in blasts aboard a train to Pakistan, officials said yesterday.

Authorities sent in police reinforcements and paramilitary troops to the five stations in the Indian capital after the attack on the Friendship Express near the northern city of Panipat, a police spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said troops also climbed aboard New Delhi’s packed local train services after explosives were used to attack the Pakistan bound train at midnight on Sunday.”We have now taken adequate precautions to thwart any possible attack,” the official told AFP.”Movement of passengers on our stations are being carefully monitored through CCTVs (close-circuit television cameras),” he added.India’s state-run railways also went on a “red alert” posting paramilitary forces at stations across northern India, Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav told reporters before leaving for the blast site 100km north of the capital.Yadav blamed the attack on “sabotage”.Two of four bombs planted on board the train were defused.The cross-border train service symbolises rapprochement between the estranged neighbours, who have fought three wars since the subcontinent’s 1947 independence from the British.The Friendship Express was suspended in 2002 after war-like tensions following an attack on India’s parliament in December 2001 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants.It was restarted in January 2004.Nampa-AFPA spokesperson for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said troops also climbed aboard New Delhi’s packed local train services after explosives were used to attack the Pakistan bound train at midnight on Sunday.”We have now taken adequate precautions to thwart any possible attack,” the official told AFP.”Movement of passengers on our stations are being carefully monitored through CCTVs (close-circuit television cameras),” he added.India’s state-run railways also went on a “red alert” posting paramilitary forces at stations across northern India, Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav told reporters before leaving for the blast site 100km north of the capital.Yadav blamed the attack on “sabotage”.Two of four bombs planted on board the train were defused.The cross-border train service symbolises rapprochement between the estranged neighbours, who have fought three wars since the subcontinent’s 1947 independence from the British.The Friendship Express was suspended in 2002 after war-like tensions following an attack on India’s parliament in December 2001 by suspected Pakistan-backed militants.It was restarted in January 2004.Nampa-AFP