Global Information2007 Samjhauta Express bombings information
| Samjhauta Express bombing | |
|---|---|
| Location | Diwana, Panipat, Haryana, India |
| Date | 18 February 2007 23:53 (UTC +5:30) |
| Target | Samjhauta Express train |
| Weapons | Bombs |
| Deaths | 70 |
| Injured | 50 |
| Accused | Lashkar-e-Taiba[1][2] Abhinav Bharat[3] |
The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan.[4][5] Bombs were set off in two carriages, both filled with passengers, just after the train passed Diwana near the Indian city of Panipat, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of New Delhi.[4][6] 70 people were killed in the ensuing fire and dozens more were injured.[7] Of the 70 fatalities, most were Pakistani civilians. The victims also included some Indian civilians and three railway policemen.[8]
Investigators subsequently found evidence of suitcases with explosives and flammable material, including three undetonated bombs. Inside one of the undetonated suitcases, a digital timer encased in transparent plastic was packed alongside a dozen plastic bottles containing fuel oils and chemicals.[8] After the bombing, eight unaffected carriages were allowed to continue onwards to Lahore with passengers.
Both the Indian and Pakistani governments condemned the attack, and officials on both sides speculated that the perpetrators intended to disrupt improving relations between the two nations, since the attack came just a day before Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri was to arrive in New Delhi to resume peace talks with Indian leaders.[5]
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged eight people in the terrorist attack, including Swami Aseemanand, a Hindu cleric formerly affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.[9] While Aseemanand has been released on bail, three persons charged in the case are absconding, and three others are in prison. The alleged mastermind, Sunil Joshi, was killed in 2007. In 2019, NIA court has acquitted all the accused.[9]
It has been allegedly linked to Abhinav Bharat, a Hindu fundamentalist group in India.[3] Allegations were also concurred on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic fundamentalist terror group in Pakistan.[10] A United States report declared Arif Qasmani to be involved in the attack.[11] Consequently, he was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States and designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council for facilitating the LeT in "the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India."[12][13][14]
Questions were raised over a Pakistani national who was arrested after the bombings for not carrying valid papers and was seen as suspicious by the investigators, but was discharged within 14 days according to a statement of the first investigation officer assigned to the case. A court order had noted the statement of the police that no proof had been found against him, which was also stated later by one of the senior officers.[15][16][17]
A narco-analysis test was conducted on SIMI's leaders Safdar Nagori, Kamruddin Nagori and Amil Parvez who had stated about Abdul Razzaq's involvement in the blasts and him informing Safdar about it.[18] Times Now had broadcast a video of the test in 2017.[19] The later statements of Swami Aseemanand of Sunil Joshi telling him of involvement of his men in the blast had caused confusion for the investigators.[20] One of the investigating officers stated in 2016 that they had investigated the Islamists including Safdar but didn't find them involved.[21] Razzaq who had been in prison since 2005 had been interrogated and had brought Qasmani to the notice of Intelligence Bureau as a key Lashkar financier. He was questioned regarding the case, but no evidence of his involvement were found. Some officers had also questioned the reliability of narco-analysis.[22]
- ^ FBI team in India, NIA to seek info on LeT’s Samjhauta link Hindustan Times – 13 May 2016
- ^ Lashkar-e-Toiba carried out deadly 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts: NIA to submit this US intel report in court Zee News – 23 May 2016
- ^ a b The Mirror Explodes Archived 29 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine – Outlook – 19 July 2010
- ^ a b "Dozens dead in India train blast". BBC News. 19 February 2007. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ a b Naqvi, Muneeza (19 February 2007). "66 Die in India-Pakistan Train Attack". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ Rao, Hitender (19 February 2007). "66 killed as Samjhauta Express becomes terror target". Hindustan Times. India. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ "Toll reaches to 68 in Samjhauta Express explosions". Islamic Republic News Agency. 20 February 2007. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
- ^ a b Rajesh, Y. P. (19 February 2007). "At least 66 killed in India-Pakistan train blast". Reuters. Archived from the original on 21 February 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ a b "Samjhauta Express blast verdict held up over Pakistani national's last-minute plea". Hindustan Times. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ US review finds five warnings of Headley's militant links DNA India – 8 November 2010
- ^ "US sanctions Pak Lashkar man, cites his Samjhauta blast link - Indian Express". indianexpress (archive).
- ^ "QASMANI, Arif". Office of Foreign Assets Control. US Treasury.
- ^ "ARIF QASMANI". United Nations Security Council.
Qasmani has worked with LeT to facilitate terrorist attacks, including the July 2006 train bombing in Mumbai, India, and the February 2007 Samjota Express bombing in Panipat, India.
- ^ Raju, Radhavinod. "Samjhauta Express Blast Vs Mumbai Terror Attacks". Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
The case was under investigation with the Haryana police who could not make any headway after their probe led to a tailor in Indore who had prepared the cover of the suitcase in which the bombs were planted. After over three years, the probe was handed over to the National Investigation Agency in the middle of 2010 by the Central government. At that time, there were reports that the Hindu right-wing groups that were involved in the Malegaon and Ajmer blasts were also involved in the Samjhauta Express blast. The Americans had in the meanwhile, in early 2009, identified a Pakistani, Asif Kasmani, of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, as involved in the Samjhauta Express blast, and moved the UN to declare him as an international terrorist. Americans generally do not make such claims easily. Did they have some clue, or evidence that the Indian investigators missed? The investigators had therefore to move carefully and look at unimpeachable evidence to come to any conclusion about the actual perpetrators.
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TheWirewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Samjhauta blast: UNSC still blames Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Arif Qasmani". The Indian Express. 26 July 2017.