Kamakhyaguri station after the blast. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Kamakhyaguri (Alipurduar), Feb. 5: A blast rocked the railway station here this afternoon only 4 minutes after Kamrup Express had left, injuring three and blowing off the shed of platform No. 2.

Kamakhyaguri, 26 km from Alipurduar town, is the first big station after the tracks enter Bengal from Assam.

Platform 2 was, however, almost empty after the Guwahati-bound express chugged out at 1.07 pm. The train scheduled to arrive at Kamakhyaguri at 9.57 am was late.

The explosive was apparently kept in a bag or a carton near a cemented seat that bore the brunt of the explosion.

North Bengal inspector-general K.L. Meena said: “We cannot say anything clearly until the probe is complete.”

Although Meena declined comment on the trigger used, a senior police officer said it could have been timed to target Kamrup Express.

The police did not rule out the Ulfa’s involvement.

The outfit, however, today called off its boycott of the National Games to be held in Assam from February 9.

“The nature of the metal scraps found is similar to those found after the Barobisha explosion, which we believe had an Ulfa hand,” said the officer. One person was seriously injured when twin blasts shook Barobisha under Kumargram police station, about 32 km from Alipurduar, on October 15 last year.

Biraj Roy and Taraknath Debnath, both hawkers, and Sunil Nandi, who sells lottery tickets, were injured today.

Their condition was said to be critical.

Residents said the explosion could be heard a kilometre away. The 15-metre-long shed and seats on the platform were completely destroyed.

Almost two hours after the blast, a police dog went sniffing to a bag in which a clock was ticking, triggering fresh panic. But there was a toy inside the bag, which probably belonged to a hawker.

Train services along the NJP-Guwahati route, however, were not affected. The next train to enter Kamakhyaguri after the blast was the Howrah-bound Kamrup. It arrived at 1.57 pm.