Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Monday sent a message to his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee to express profound grief and sincere condolences over the tragic loss of lives in the bomb attacks on a train in northern India.
The attacks on the Samjhauta Express or Friendship Train between India and Pakistan, which took place earlier Monday near Panipat, in India's Haryana state, were reportedly conducted with improvised explosive devices.
Over 60 passengers, including Pakistani nationals, were feared killed in the attacks. Most of the passengers died of burns or suffocated Scores of other passengers were injured, 20 of them critically, and were rushed to a nearby hospital.
Police said the death toll could rise as some of the injured were in critical condition.
Fire fighters rushed to the spot and spent more than two hours putting out the fire. The police found improvised explosive devices in the two coaches and recovered a suitcase from another coach of the train, in which two more improvised explosive devices were kept.
The Friendship train left Delhi Railway Station late Sunday night and was on its way to Atari -- the last station on the Indian side of the border, just 30 kilometers from the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Most passengers in the train were Pakistani nationals.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2007)
