New Jalpaiguri, June 22 :     New Jalpaiguri, June 22:  Nine persons, including three soldiers, were killed and 65 seriously injured when an explosion ripped through a large crowd of soldiers and civilians at the New Jalpaiguri railway station in North Bengal.  The bomb, suspected to have been made of RDX, is believed to have targeted army personnel bound for Kargil. Defence and police officials feel Pakistan?s Inter-Services Intelligence had used the United Liberation Front of Asom to set off the explosion, which occurred at 12.10 pm.   ?The greater the beating Pakistan takes in Kargil, the more desperate it becomes to mount attacks on vulnerable areas like North Bengal,? said Gen. Satish Chopra, chief of army staff, Eastern Command. Movement of soldiers has been heavy through North Bengal?s biggest junction since the Kargil conflict erupted.   The station is situated in the narrow but strategic Siliguri corridor, which connects Sikkim and the Northeast with the rest of the country and is less then 20 km from Bangladesh and Nepal.   The explosive, probably hidden in a bag, went off in the centre of platforms 2 and 3, blowing off the fibreglass roof and damaging coaches of the Delhi-bound Mahananda Express on platform 2 and Darjeeling Mail on platform 3.   The blast comes a day after two bags of improvised bombs were detected and defused at Falakata, about 100 km east of New Jalpaiguri. On Sunday evening, a bomb damaged part of the rail tracks on the same spot.   Most victims of today?s blast were Delhi-bound passengers, their relatives, railway employees, stall workers and porters.   Mangled bodies lay strewn in different corners of the platforms. One hit the side of the Darjeeling Mail before falling to the ground. Pools of blood had collected beside the luggage of passengers.   Nineteen of the injured were armymen from different regiments. They were taken to the base hospital at Bendubi. Twenty-two people were admitted to the railway hospital.   Army officials confirmed that ?a time device was planted close to the military compartment of the Mahananda Express??.   The blast occurred five minutes before the train was to leave the station. Soldiers shifting to general coaches from the packed military compartments fell victim. Rifleman Ram Bahadur Gurung, Lance Naik Krishna Bahadur Gurung and Rifleman Jim Bahadur Thapa died instantly.   Ram Bahadur?s rucksack with his kukri lay alongside the trunk of colleague Naik K. Karki on platform 3.   Border Security Force sub-inspector Man Bahadur Thapa of Kalimpong, bound for Srinagar, said: ?I was in my coach (number 7) when the blast flung people in all directions. Most of them were still trying to board the train.? His colleague Sandip Thatal from Sikkim was killed by shrapnel.   Most army and paramilitary personnel said they were on their way to Kashmir. However, army officials described them as personnel bound for undisclosed destinations.   Rattled by the first-ever blast at the station, civil and army authorities in Calcutta were considering tighter security in the region, including Sikkim. The Railways declared ad hoc compensation of Rs 15,000 for relatives of victims, Rs 5,000 for the seriously injured and Rs 500 for those with minor injuries.   Two of the dead were women. One was identified as Ilsaha Mondol of Dhupguri. Raj Kumar, a civilian, died at the army hospital later in the evening. At least half a dozen persons are critical.   The Left Front has called a twelve-hour bandh in Siliguri tomorrow in protest against the blast.