This Article is From Apr 02, 2010

Terror hits Kashmir's first rail service, track blown up

Palwama: Terrorists blew up a railway track in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday night.

An Improvised explosive device (IED) blast damaged 2-3 feet of the track in Pulwama on the Qazigund Baramulla route, about 40 kms from Srinagar.

There are no casualties, although train services between south and north Kashmir have been affected. Work has been on since last night to repair the tracks.

The attack comes at a time when senior railway officers are expected to visit Kashmir to review progress of the ongoing work in the railways.

"It has to be a regular high explosive. Without forensic analysis and trace analysis, no one can claim the nature of the explosive. If anyone is claiming the nature before the reports, is wrong. But it is not emulsion or slurry. The way magnesium steel has been cut it has to be a regular high explosive detonation," said M C Asthana, Inspector General, CRPF.

One train runs every day on the Qazigund Baramulla track which brought in the valley's first train last year.

The rail link project which will connect Kashmir to the rest of the country took more than a decade to construct.

The 18-kilometre line is the valley's link to its capital Srinagar and other important places. But ever since the line has been laid, there have been several militant attacks in the area although this is the first time the track has been attacked.
.