An IED blast in Assam’s Kokrajhar district ripped through several feet of railway track in the early hours of Thursday but was identified and repaired before any incident could take place.
On Friday, police stated the investigation is ongoing and efforts are underway to identify if an extremist group is responsible for the blast.
The blast had taken place in the Alipurduar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), between Salakati and Kokrajhar, located in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Region.
A major accident was averted in Kokrajhar last night. We have identified the culprit and will soon apprehend him. pic.twitter.com/5M7OEMEwqq
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 23, 2025
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“At about 1.00 am on 23.10.2025, when the goods train UP AZARA Sugar was passing between Salakati and Kokrajhar, the Train manager reported a heavy jerk, after which the train was stopped. On checking, it was found that there was damage on the track and sleepers, due to a suspected bomb blast. State Police, RPF and intelligence authorities are investigating the matter,” read a statement by NFR CPRO Kapinjal Kishore Sharma.
STORY | Assam: IED blast on railway track disrupts train services
Railway services across Lower Assam and parts of north Bengal were disrupted early on Thursday after unidentified miscreants detonated a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) on a railway track in Kokrajhar… pic.twitter.com/uBQSLu9Ztg
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 23, 2025
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Eight trains which were travelling through the route were detained because of the incident but the track was restored at 5:25 am and train movement on the track resumed in the morning, said the railways.
Senior officials from the Assam police including DGP Harmeet Singh were present at the site. IGP BTAD Vivek Raj Singh said that the blast had been caused by an IED and had torn away around 8-10 feet of the railway track.
“We are investigating what mechanism they had used and if some extremist group is involved in this. To our knowledge, nobody was injured because of this,” he stated.
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During the day, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that one person has been identified in connection with the incident.
“We have received the name of one person connected to the incident, who has multiple cases in both Assam and Jharkhand, which the police is investigating… The DGP informed me that one section of the railway track was torn away by an IED blast. A train had passed by, the loco pilot spotted it and told the railways, which informed the police. If the loco pilot could not see it, we might have had some very bad news,” he said.
