India: Major tragedy averted at Guwahati station after railway mail staff spot parcel bomb

 

 A major tragedy was averted today (August 18) after the railway police at Guwahati station managed to locate and detonate an improvised explosive device weighing 10-kg. The bomb was kept as a parcel booked on the Railway Mail Service (RMS) and was supposed to be loaded on the Guwahati-Silchar passenger train. Guwahati is the capital of Indian state Assam and a major nerve-point in its railway network connecting the north-eastern states to the rest of the country.


The bomb parcel was booked from Guwahati General Post Office and was bound for the Guwahati-Silchar passenger train.

RMS employees, who heard a ticking sound from the parcel while those were being sorted according to their destination, grew suspicious and alerted the police.

A Home Guard posted at the station then isolated the mail cart and cordoned off the area, while the Assam Police bomb disposal squad was called in to check for the bomb.

The IED has been taken to the outskirts of the city to a place called Rani for a controlled explosion.

The Times of India quoted an unnamed official as saying that the IED weighed about "10 kg and its radius of impact would have been 100 meters".  

Investigations are on to ascertain if the explosive was set on a timer.

Source :  http://www.wionews.com/i