GUWAHATI, Dec 13: Five people were killed and four injured on Thursday in an explosion aboard a passenger train in India’s restive northeastern state of Assam, officials said.

The blast took place when the high speed train was nearing Golaghat district, about 270km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati, en route to New Delhi, a railway official said.

“Five people are dead and four are injured due to the impact of the explosion hitting a portion of the luggage van of the train,” Trikal Rabha, chief spokesman of the Northeast Frontier Railways said. The train had departed from eastern Dibrugarh town with at least 800 people on board, Rabha said.

The blast had not affected other carriages which stayed on the tracks, he said, adding that the rest of the passengers were safe.

“There was partial damage to the tracks... It was immediately repaired and the train has resumed its journey,” Rabha said.

Golaghat district police chief P.C. Haloi said that preliminary reports suggested the explosive was planted inside the cargo carriage.

All the victims were Hindi-speaking migrant workers from neighbouring Bihar, a group previously targeted by Assamese rebels who accuse them of taking away jobs from local people.

Haloi said authorities suspected two militant organisations in the blast: the United Liberation Front of Asom and the Adivasi National Liberation Army.—AFP