TRAIN BLAST CAUSED BY RDX, GOI LOSING PATIENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 005874 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2015 TAGS: PTER PGOV IN SUBJECT: TRAIN BLAST CAUSED BY RDX, GOI LOSING PATIENCE REF: A. NEW DELHI 5862 NOTAL ¶B. NEW DELHI 5522 Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) A blast on a New Delhi-bound train killing at least 13 passengers on July 28 was caused by RDX, police sources told us, noting that the same explosive was found in the possession of the July 5 Ayodhya attackers (Ref B). Director General AK Suri of the Railway Protection Force reported that the bomb was placed under a berth in the passenger coach, ripping apart the compartment as it traveled through Uttar Pradesh. Suri, a long-time Embassy contact, underlined that "it was definitely a terrorist act." The GOI has not commented publicly on the cause of the blast, except for early disingenuous speculation from the railway ministry, facing accusations of lax security, that it could have been an accidental gas cylinder explosion. Comment: Is This the Last Straw? -------------- ¶2. (C) With a long open border facing Nepal, Uttar Pradesh is a free movement zone for Nepalese Maoists, indigenous Naxalite groups, and Pakistani-backed jihadists who use Kathmandu as a hub of operations. Any of these could have been responsible for the July 28 attack. While the GOI has so far been restrained in the face of an accelerating tempo of terrorist activity and cross-border infiltration, the government is growing increasingly frustrated with Pakistani links to terrorist actions in India. GOI contacts tell us that a major terrorist incident with Pakistani sponsorship would put an end to Indo-Pak detente (Ref A). While responsibility for this blast may never be known, the India-Pakistan peace process is looking increasingly vulnerable to these mounting attacks. BLAKE