26 killed, 84 injured in India explosions
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-02 21:45

Two powerful bombs exploded minutes apart at a crowded railroad station and a market in India's northeastern state of Nagaland on Saturday, killing 26 people and injuring 84.

President of India's ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi offers flowers at the memorial of India's Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi, during a ceremony to mark Gandhi's 135th birth anniversary. At least 19 people were killed and 55 wounded, many critically, in four powerful bomb blasts in revolt-hit northeastern India, police and officials said. [AFP]

The first blast occurred in the railway station in Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub, and was followed soon after by a powerful explosion just as shopkeepers were opening up for business in the city's popular "Hong Kong" market, said C. Kuki, an inspector in the police control room.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the state's top elected official, told The Associated Press after a visit to the site that the death toll had risen to 26 and that 84 people had been injured.

Nagaland has two main separatist groups that are fighting for a separate Naga homeland. No group claimed responsibility for the explosions, police said.

"We cannot say who is responsible. It is still too early," he said by telephone from the state capital, Kohima.

When the market blast occurred, "there weren't too many shoppers around or the toll would have been much higher," Kuki said.

The blast in the railway station occurred shortly before a train was to arrive from neighboring Assam state and the main platform was crowded with passengers awaiting the train, said C. Yanthan, a railway official. He said the injured had been taken to hospitals across Dimapur.

The Indian government has been engaged in peace negotiations with one faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), headed by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, since signing a cease-fire agreement in 1997.

There is also a cease-fire agreement with the rival NSCN faction, headed by S.S. Khaplang, but no formal talks have been initiated with it.

More than 15,000 people died in the Nagaland conflict before the government and rebels agreed to the August 1997 cease-fire.

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