View source for Brahmaputra Mail train bombing

{{Short description|Bombing of passenger train in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title      =  Brahmaputra Mail train bombing
| location   = [[Western Assam]], [[India]]
| date       = 30 December 1996
| fatalities = 33
| type=Train bombing}}

The '''[[Brahmaputra Mail]] train bombing''' was a terrorist attack on a train travelling in [[Western Assam]] in Eastern [[India]] on 30 December 1996. The bomb totally wrecked three carriages of the train and derailed six more, killing at least 33 people.

The bomb was of unknown composition, and had been left next to a line of track between [[Kokrajhar]] and [[Fakiragram]] stations. It is likely the bomb was detonated by a remote control device, and timed to cause maximum destruction, as the ''Brahmaputra Mail'' passenger service to [[New Delhi]] came past at high speed. 

Official reports claimed that 33 people were killed in the explosion, but the remote region in which the blast occurred and government desires to minimize the impact of the attack has led some commentators to question this figure. Some have claimed that 100 fatalities is a more likely figure.

The Indian government blamed the attack on an Assamese separatist organisation, the [[Bodo Security Force]], and although they have not admitted guilt.

==See also==
* [[List of terrorist incidents, 1996]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
* {{cite book|last1=Asthana|first1=N. C.|last2=Nirmal|first2=Anjali|title=Urban Terrorism: Myths and Realities|date=2009|publisher=Pointer Publishers|isbn=9788171325986|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EqWnqdsgZMC&q=Brahmaputra+Mail+train+bombing&pg=PA171|language=en}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071004223145/http://www.pathfinder.com/Asiaweek/97/1226/newsmap/india.html Short piece on the bombing]

{{coord missing|Assam}}
{{1996 railway accidents}}

[[Category:Explosions in 1996]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1996]]
[[Category:Railway accidents in 1996]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in India in 1996]]
[[Category:December 1996 events in Asia]]
[[Category:December 1996 crimes]]
[[Category:1990s in Assam]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Assam]]
[[Category:Gowda administration]] 
[[Category:Train bombings in Asia]]
[[Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in India]]
[[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Assam]]
[[Category:Rail transport in Assam]]

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