A passenger train narrowly escaped derailment early Saturday in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a section of railway track was blown up by improvised explosive device, according to local media reports.
The incident took place near Villupram of the state and no one was killed or injured in the blast, said the reports.
Police suspect forces sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could be behind the blast, as they were protesting the visit by Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapakse to India earlier this week, according to local TV channel CNN-IBN.
The Chennai-bound Rockfort Express stopped 200 feet (about 60 meters) before the damaged spot of the track after receiving a warning about the blast near Perani station, 160 km from Chennai, said the Indo-Asian News Service.
The blast damaged three feet of tracks and caused a four feet crater, said the news service.
Repairing work is on and the traffic is expected to be restored by 09:00 a.m., while a number of trains were being delayed due to the sabotage, according to the report.
About 150 people were killed when a passenger train derailed on May 28 in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal before being hit by a goods train.
Police said the extreme left-wing Naxal rebels could be behind the sabotage of the railway track which caused the derailment.
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