Bomb on train in eastern India kills 8, wounds 60

Kolkata: Indian officials on Tuesday were investigating a bomb that ripped through two cars of a passenger train in a remote area of eastern India, killing at least eight people and wounding about 60 others, officials and Indian media said.

The blast took place around 6.10 p.m. when the train stopped at Belakoba station on its way to the tourist town of New Jalpaiguri.

Suspicion for Monday's blast in West Bengal state quickly fell on two groups: communist rebels active in wide swaths of rural India or militants fighting for an independent homeland in the neighbouring state of Assam.

A spokesman for Northeastern Railways, T. Rabha, told reporters that the bomb had been planted in one of train's cars and the explosion occurred about 6:20 p.m. near the Belacoba station, about 550 kilometres north of Kolkata.

The blast was so powerful it blew away the side and roof of one of the cars.

At least six passengers died at the scene and 53 others were wounded, Rabha said, adding that the death toll could rise because some of those injured were in serious condition. A railway police official later reported that the death toll had climbed to eight with about 60 wounded.

Prasad Ranjan Roy, home secretary of West Bengal state, said initial suspicion pointed to either Maoist rebels or Assamese militants. He suggested the blast could be the work of the relatively small Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, an Assamese group tied to the larger United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).