An explosion took place around midnight on Friday, January 23 in the Sirhind area of Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab. The blast severely damaged the railway tracks. The explosion also caused significant damage to the engine of a freight train. The train operator was injured and rail traffic on the Amritsar–Delhi section was delayed.
Sources reported that RDX may have been used in an attempt to sabotage the train. RDX is royal demolition explosive, also known as cyclonite, hexogen and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine. RDX is an explosive on its own, and can be combined with other ingredients to make plastic explosives (C-4 contains 91% RDX).
Security agencies in Punjab are investigating several leads, including a potential Khalistani separatist link to an explosion that damaged a railway track and a freight train engine near Sirhind, according to the Hindustan Times. After the incident, a letter from a banned group surfaced on social media, The letter, issued in the name of the group’s “chief sevadar” Ranjit Singh Jammu, claims responsibility for the Sirhind blast.
According to the letter, written in Punjabi, the explosion was intended to mark the 40th anniversary of the Khalistan declaration. The letter claimed that the group targeted the freight train to “avoid undue loss,” asserting they could have targeted a passenger train instead. The letter warned that their “struggle” would continue to “disturb the sleep” of the authorities until their goals were met.