Police issues modified sketches of Indian train bombers

Police, investigating the reasons for the blasts in the India–Pakistan trasn–border 'friendship train' Samjhauta Express that left at least 70 people dead, have released a poster with modified sketches of two prime suspects in Panipat, February 25.

"The earlier sketch was made with the help of one witness. We now have more than one eyewitness and hence have developed this improved version with their accounts," Railway Superintendent of Police (Ambala Range) Bharti Arora said.

The railway authorities are looking into the possibility that an insider played a role in the two blasts which sparked a devastating fire in the train. "We are not ruling out anything," Arora said.

Police have so far questioned over a dozen people and investigating agencies are hopeful of a breakthrough soon. "The investigation is not directionless, it is heading in the right path," she said.

The new sketches are altered versions of those released two days after the blasts, and police said they were modified using additional information about the looks of the suspects given by key witnesses like Pakistani national Rana Shaukat Ali, who says he saw a man get off the train after quarrelling with a RPF guard shortly before the blasts.

The posters, which Arora said would be displayed at public places here as well as in Delhi and Attari, also have a photograph of the suitcase containing a unexploded bomb that was found on the trans–border train.

The photograph shows a suitcase with a denim cover that has the words "Apollo 60" written on it with a pen.

Meanwhile, twenty–three people killed in the train bombing, February 19, have been buried without being identified.

Officials in the northern state of Haryana said the unclaimed bodies had to be buried because they were beginning to decompose.

But relatives will have the right to have the bodies exhumed later if DNA tests determine their identity.

Both Islamic and Hindu religious verses were recited during the mass burial in the village of Mehrana in Haryana.

Officials say that relatives wanting to rebury their loved ones will have the right to do so after DNA reports on the bodies are completed within the next 10 to 15 days.

Officials at Panipat, the town nearest the scene of the blast, said that six bodies had been buried on Friday after their Pakistani relatives had given their consent.

Seven Pakistani passengers injured in the bombing had returned home aboard a military plane, officials said on Friday.

They said that the victims were brought to the eastern city of Lahore by the Pakistan Air Force late on Thursday, and were being treated at the government Mayo Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Indian President, APJ Kalam, has said that India wants better ties with Pakistan but the peace process will only benefit if Islamabad fully curbs "cross–border terrorism."

Laying out government policy at the start of parliament's first session of the year, he said that India was still worried about the infiltration of militants into India from Pakistan and attacks launched by them.

"The success of the dialogue process is predicated on Pakistan fulfilling its commitment not to permit any territory under its control to be used to support terrorism in any manner," he told Parliament.

But he stressed that the bombing would not derail the peace process between the two countries.

"We should not allow this tragic event to affect our common quest for normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan," he said.

Indian authorities have admitted that security lapses at the Delhi railway station may have allowed the attackers to place the home–made suitcase bombs on the train.

Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told Parliament that urgent steps were being taken to strengthen and modernise the Railway Police Force (RPF) which is responsible for security across Indian train stations.

He said that vacancies in the force would be filled, and more sniffer dogs, metal detectors and TV surveillance would be used at key stations.