Train blast perpetrators influenced by ISIS: Chouhan

Bhopal: The perpetrators of Bhopal-Ujjain train bomb explosion were influenced by ISIS ideology and the incident was a "trial blast" as the terrorists planned to carry out more attacks, Madhya Pradesh Government said on Wednesday.

Speaking in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said said that those who orchestrated the blast arrived from Lucknow and planted the bomb in the passenger train as part of a "pre-planned conspiracy".

At least 10 people were injured, three of them seriously, in the IED blast in the train near Jabdi station in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

"The terrorists were influenced by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror ideology and carried out the blast. It was a pre-planned conspiracy," Chouhan said in the Assembly during the ongoing budget session.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in the passenger train was a "trial blast".

"Yesterday's explosion carried out through IED was a trial blast. The police, however, smashed this terror network within five hours after the blast in train," Singh told mediapersons in the state Assembly premises on Wednesday.

The terrorists had plans to orchestrate the blasts at some other places also, he claimed.

Earlier, speaking to mediapersons at Barwah town in Khargone district late Tuesday night, Chouhan said, "Police detained three terrorists who planted bomb in Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train. It was revealed during initial interrogation from the arrested terrorists that they were connected to ISIS."

"The blast site smelt of deadly explosives. I would like to congratulate the ATS and police who immediately acted. Madhya Pradesh is a peaceful state and nobody would be allowed to create disturbance here," he said.

These terrorists had arrived here from Lucknow and planted the bomb in Bhopal-Ujjain train, he said.

Chouhan said today, in the state Assembly, that MP police and central agencies had unmasked the people behind the train blast in just five hours.

"The three suspects detained for the blast in the state are being grilled thoroughly so as to reach to more of their accomplices," he said.

Referring to the jail break by SIMI activists and the subsequent encounter in which eight men of the banned outfit were killed in 2016, the CM said, "Attempts have been made to disturb peace but it has been nipped in the bud by the alert state police. An act of terror won't be allowed to thrive in the state."

In an official statement released late Tuesday night, the UP police had said that three persons were arrested by Madhya Pradesh police in Piparia town in Hoshangabad.

Two of the arrested persons are from Kanpur, while one is from Aligarh.

The Home Minister said that the arrests and the encounter in Uttar Pradesh were linked to the train blast.

The blast had occurred in a general coach of the passenger train when it was on its way to Ujjain from Bhopal.

Subsequently, anti-terror operations were carried out by police of both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to get hold of terrorists, suspected to be linked with the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast.