At least 66 killed in India-Pakistan train blast

By Y.P. Rajesh

DEEWANA, India (Reuters) - Two bombs exploded on board a train bound from India to Pakistan, sparking a fire that killed at least 66 passengers on Monday, in an apparent attempt to sabotage a peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Most of the victims were Pakistanis, but some Indians and three railway policemen died in the attack, officials said.

Bodies were laid out in blue bags between huge slabs of melting ice in a morgue in the nearby town of Panipat. Officials said about 30 of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.

"I have been working here for 25 years and I have never seen anything like this," said nurse Rohtas Singh. "Some bodies don't have legs, some don't have arms, some have no faces. Some you can't even make out if they are men or women."

About half a dozen of the corpses were of children.

Two unexploded suitcase bombs were also found on the train. Inside one, an electronic timer encased in clear plastic was packed next to more than a dozen plastic bottles containing a cocktail of fuel oils and chemicals.

Indian financial markets shrugged off the bombings, with the Mumbai stock market's index ending slightly higher on the day.

One person was detained in connection with the midnight blasts on the train about 80 km (50 miles) north of New Delhi, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was quoted as saying.

But there was no finger-pointing by India and Pakistan, as there has been so often in the past after violent attacks.

The prime ministers of the two countries called each other and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the attack would not be allowed to undermine the two countries' peace efforts.

"We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process to succeed in their nefarious designs," Musharraf said in a statement.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, due in New Delhi for talks with Indian leaders to push forward the slow-moving peace process, said his trip would go ahead.

Washington condemned the bombing and "those who seek to undermine the progress in relations between the two countries," White House spokesman David Almacy said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "this heinous crime cannot be justified by any cause and its perpetrators should be brought to justice," according to U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.

Police said that while the explosions were small, they were intended to cause fires on at least four of the train's coaches.