GANGANAGAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead 70 people and injured 36 on a train at Kabarwala in the Ganganagar Abohar section of northern railways on August 27 night.

Nine rail cars of the 377 UP passenger train were derailed the next night in Majitha district. No injuries were reported. The train from Delhi bound for Amritsar was derailed after a powerful bomb blast on the track in Gharimandi village at 10:45 pm. At one meter section of track was also blown up in Boparai section.

The gunmen boarded the Bathinda bound train at around 10:15 pm when the 6UP train stopped at the flag stop station of Kabarwala. AK 47 rifles are suspected to have been used in the firing which lasted about 10 minutes. The government casualty figure is 24 dead.

This was the biggest of five such incidents involving train passengers. Last year 11 people were killed on a train in Khem Karan.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 1, 1989