The suspected bomb blast on the railway track.
Credit: Special Arrangement.
Guwahati: Unidentified miscreants carried out a suspected IED explosion on a railway track near Kokrajhar in western Assam's Bodoland region affecting train services for more than four hours on Thursday.
According to Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), the suspected blast on track was detected at around 1 am between Salakati and Kokrajhar railway station when a goods train had to stop following a heavy jerk.
"On checking, it was found that there was damage on the track and sleepers, due to a suspected bomb blast. State Police, RPF and intelligence authorities are investigating the matter. The track was restored at 5.25 am and normal train running has resumed," NFR's chief public relations officer, Kapinjal Kishore Sarma said in a statement.
He said eight trains had to halt due to the incident.
Violence in Bodoland
The area falls under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) that has remained peaceful since the signing of a new BTC accord in 2020. There was no major insurgency related incident in the area as all insurgent groups had laid down their weapons and joined the mainstream. But the explosion on Thursday brought fears of return of violent days to the region.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a person suspected to be behind the attack has been identified and efforts were underway to nab him.
The incident took place after recent change of guard in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) that governs the five districts under the BTR.
Raju Kumar Narzary, general secretary of United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), a local political party, condemned the blast and demanded that action must be taken against those trying to disrupt peace in the BTR. "Bodoland region has seen violence for years but peace was restored after the new BTC accord was signed in 2020. The government must try to identify and nab those trying to disrup the atmosphere of peace now," he said.
UPPL, which was in power in BTC since 2021, lost the elections last month to Bodoland People's Front (BPF), which ruled the council between 2003 and 2021. BPF and BJP formed the new council on October 3.
Both BPF and UPPL are now part of the NDA and the BJP-led government in Assam.