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At least 100 people were injured, 40 of them seriously, when Bodo militants exploded a powerful bomb derailing seven coaches of Delhi-Guwahati Northeast Express in Assam's Bongaigaon district on Tuesday night, a railway spokesperson said.
The train's parcel van was also thrown off the tracks, while two bogies caught fire, the spokesperson added.
The blast occurred at 7 pm when the train was passing over a culvert, the police said.
The outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland is suspected to have set off the blast, the police added.
The train was carrying 1,500 passengers.
Senior railway and police officials have rushed to the spot
The explosion is the first major train blast in Assam in almost a year. Eleven soldiers had been killed in a blast in western Assam last year.
Thirty-three soldiers were killed when militants blew up the Brahmaputra Mail on December 31, 1998.
The NDFB, which operates out of well-entrenched bases in neighbouring Bhutan, is fighting for an independent tribal homeland for Bodo tribespersons.
Agencies
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