Six killed as bomb rips through bus in India's Punjab state

July 24, 2000
Web posted at: 11:02 PM HKT (1502 GMT)

CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) -- At least six people were killed when a bomb ripped through a bus in the northern Indian state of Punjab on Monday, United News of India said.

Police told Reuters that about 10 people were feared dead.

Authorities said the bus caught fire after the blast.

Some people were still trapped inside, and the exact details of the casualties were not immediately known, police said.

The bus was on its way to the city of Jalandhar in Punjab from Pathankot town close to the border of Jammu and Kashmir state. The blast occurred just outside Jalandhar, which is northwest of Chandigarh, the provincial capital.

India substantially contained a decadelong Sikh separatist movement in Punjab in the early 1990s, and blasts are now rare in the agriculturally rich state.

A Muslim guerrilla rebellion that erupted in the neighboring Kashmir province is still raging.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For more ASIANOW news, myCNN.com will bring you news from the areas and subjects you select.

See related sites about South Asia
South Asian media sites

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.