Army honours railwaymen who averted Dinanagar train blast

The Indian Army on Saturday honoured two railway employees who averted a major tragedy by spotting live bombs planted by terrorists on a railway bridge near Dinanagar town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district on July 27.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt. Gen. K.J. Singh, felicitated the two bravehearts - gateman Darshan Kumar and Satpal, at a function in the Tiger Division near Jammu.

Satpal also received the Army Commander's Commendation Card also, an army spokesman said.

"On 27 July, during anti-terrorist operations at Dinanagar, Gurdaspur, these two 'Jagruk Hindustani' were instrumental in saving the lives of train passengers by detecting five planted IEDs (improvised explosive devices) on the railway track from Dinanagar to Pathankot.

"Had it not been for their swift alertness and sense of responsibility, the local passenger train would have crossed over the IEDs," the spokesman said.

Three terrorists, who had besieged Dinanagar town from 5.30 a.m. on Monday, had planned more casualties by wiring five live bombs on the railway track on a small bridge on the Pathankot-Amritsar railway section.

A tragedy was averted as alert railway staff detected the bombs just five minutes before a train loaded with passengers was to cross the bridge, five km from here. The bombs were plated near Parmanand railway station, five km from Dinanagar.

The passenger train was carrying over 250 people and the bombs were wired to the track on a small bridge over a rivulet.

All trains on the Pathankot-Amritsar section were stopped immediately by railway authorities.

Seven people, including a police officer, three home guard personnel and three civilians lost their lives in the terror attack. The terrorists had a 11-hour long gun battle with security forces at the Dinanagar police station complex on Monday.