The Brahmaputra Mail train bombing was a terrorist attack on a train travelling in Lower 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. Assam (Assamese: অসম, Hindi: असम; Ôxôm) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur. ... December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

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. Kokrajhar is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. ... The Humayuns Tomb, situated in New Delhi, has an architectural design similar to the Taj Mahal. ...

Official reports claimed that 33 people were killed in the explosion, but the remote region in which the blast occurred and government desires to minimise 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, they were conducting a medium-intesity guerilla war against the Indian government at the time of the blast. The line was also used by military trains (see Gauhati rail disaster), which might have been the group's intended target.

External links

• Short piece on the bombing