Guwahati, Aug. 11 :     Five persons, including three Army personnel were killed and four seriously injured when suspected National Democratic Front of Boroland rebels blew up a vehicle near Gohpur in Sonitpur district today. Defence sources said the victims belonged to the 97 Field Regiment. The blast took place at Rajgarh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border at 4.30 pm. Sources said the rebels first attacked a Nepali village and injured two persons. An Army team based at Nayaghagra headed for Rajgarh in two vehicles soon after being informed about the incident. As soon as they reached Rajgarh, the rebels blew up one of the vehicles with an improvised explosive device. The attack on the Nepali-dominated village is believed to have been carried out to force Army personnel to come the area. The Armymen injured in the blast, including a captain, have been admitted to the Gohpur civil hospital. The two civilians have been identified as Naren Chetri and Jhankamaya Chetri. Earlier, The Tezpur-bound Samastipur Express had a narrow escape when suspected Bodo militants detonated a powerful improvised explosive device near Majbat in central Assam last night. Sources in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said the Bodo militants triggered the blast on the metre gauge line between Majbat and Dhekiajuli around 8.45 pm. The bomb was planted under a bridge over the Basnoi river, sources said. Police sources said the bomb was planted to blow up the passenger train, which was coming from Samastipur in Bihar. But the blast, which was ?mistimed,? damaged a pilot engine, nearly 15 km ahead of the train. The driver of the train has been seriously injured, sources said. The blast has damaged nearly 50 metres of the track in the Rangiya-Tezpur section. Senior railway officials have rushed to the spot. Restoration work has begun on a war footing. Train services are likely to be restored late tonight, sources said. The remote-controlled device was detonated from a distance of 300 metres from the bridge. Security forces have launched a massive operation in the area to flush out the rebels. Though six Bodo youth were picked up from nearby villages for interrogation, no one was arrested in this connection, sources said. The Samastipur Express and the Rangapara-Alipurduar Express were terminated at Majbat and Dhekiajuli respectively, sources said. The needle of suspicion points to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), which has been triggering serial remote-controlled blasts on the railway tracks since July 31. However, on every occasion, the detonations were ?mistimed? and there were no casualties. ?Yesterday, there were many Bodos aboard the train and we think that was the reason why they did not blow it up,? a police official said, adding, ?Maybe the militants just wanted to show their strength by detonating the bombs.? The blast was reported by the injured driver, who trekked to the nearby Majbat station. The NFR has rescheduled and cancelled some of the trains in the Rangiya-Tezpur section. The Rajdhani Express has been rescheduled as night journeys have been suspended in Lower Assam.