Train bombing: Sketches of two suspects released

Dewana: India released sketches on Tuesday of two suspects in the bombing of the Samjhauta Express train to Pakistan that killed 68 people.

Indian police announced the first leads in their investigations into the attack on the train heading from New Delhi to the Pakistani city of Lahore, with sketches of two men who jumped off the train before the bombs exploded on Sunday night.

"Around 11:30 (p.m.), these people got down, and the blasts happened 15 minutes later," police Inspector-General Sharad Kumar told a televised news conference in Panipat town, close to the site of the blasts about 80 km outside New Delhi.

One of the suspects was around 35 or 36 years old, "plumpish" and dark, with a moustache, the second around 26 or 27, wearing a scarf wrapped around his head. Both were speaking the local Hindi language.

The men had an argument with railway police earlier in the journey and had claimed they had wanted to go to the western city of Ahmedabad, police said. They were told the train did not go there and were asked to get off.

"After the argument, when the train slowed down, they walked off," said Bharti Arora, a senior railway police officer.

While the train attack occurred in India, the majority of the victims on the Samjhauta Express were Pakistanis.

The suitcases were packed with plastic bottles of kerosene and petrol, mixed with strips of cloth to prolong the blaze. Two other bombs were planted on the train but failed to explode.

Kumar said the attack was the work of at least four or five people, and said a militant outfit must have been behind it.

Police were still questioning Pakistani national Usman Mohammed, who claims to have thrown one of the suitcases off the train.

"The suitcase was thrown on the track," Kumar said. "Usman was there and said he had thrown it. We are verifying it. We are not giving a clean chit. He was drunk."

The fire destroyed two coaches on the Samjhauta Express, which was on its way to Pakistan from India.

A Home Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the investigation, said no suspects had been ruled out.

The government's ballistic expert, RK Kaushik, said the method used in the attack indicates that the bombers appear “well trained''.

"The method used to carry out this attack - low intensity explosives along with incendiary material - is the best possible way to attack a train," he added.

He said it was too early to determine who was responsible for the attacks, and that his team of forensic experts were examining the burned coaches for clues.

A statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office said that India will do "everything possible to ensure that its perpetrators are punished."