October 26

A seven-year-old boy was killed and another child and a woman were wounded Tuesday in a bomb blast in India's eastern state of West Bengal, police said.

The blast took place on the railway tracks at Bhatpara, about 30 km north of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal.

"Today a seven-year-old child was killed and another one accompanying him was wounded after a blast took place on the railway tracks here," a police official posted in North 24 Parganas told media. "A woman was also wounded in the blast. Both the wounded were immediately hospitalized."

Preliminary investigations carried out by the police said the children found an abandoned packet on the tracks and started fiddling with it, which caused the blast.

According to police, another live bomb was also found near the site, which was taken away by the bomb disposal squad and defused at a safer location.

Police said a case has been registered and an investigation ordered to ascertain the identity of the people behind the blast.

xinhua