The director general of Punjab Police Sarabjit Singh said the blast was apparently targeted at the Army and security forces personnel travelling by the train. It was timed to go off in Pathankot but exploded at Chakki Banki station near Pathankot.

Meanwhile, SSP, Kangra, K C Shadyal said at Palanpur that police has got vital clues about the militants responsible for the blast.

Police was on the lookout for five fair-complexioned youth aged 20-23 years, two of whom had boarded the train at Jammu and others, wearing black salwar-kameez, at Chakki Banki, he said.

He said all of them detrained leaving behind their luggage few minutes before the blast ripped through the general compartment near the engine.Meanwhile, UnionRailway Minister Mamata Banerjee said the preliminary reports suggested hand of militants behind the blast and that Railways would soon set up their own intelligence network to strengthen security in the wake of terrorism on the tracks.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K Dhumal, while condemning the blast, said in a statement that the state government would hold a detailed inquiry and take more steps to ensure better security for trains running through the state.

While three people died on the spot, when the bomb, suspected to have been planted by militants ripped through the compartment near Kandrori station on the Himachal Pradesh-Punjab border last night, eight were declared brought dead by doctors at Pathankot military hospital. Three more persons succumbed to their injuries on Friday.

The condition of six injured passengers was stated to be "critical" while nine others were said to be in a "serious" condition.

Meanwhile, three of the dead have been identified so far. They are Sepoy A K Burman,CRPF constable Birender Singh and B N Singh, a civilian from Bihar.``I was taking my meals with my father when a bomb blasted near us. I thought it was a cracker burst'', seven-year-old Rajesh of Nangloi in Delhi admitted with head injury in military hospital at Pathankot said, giving an eyewitness account of the bomb blast.

Rajesh told Union Minister of State for Railways Digvijay Singh, who visited the injured victims of the bomb blast at the hospital today, that ``security personnel killed the badmash who triggered the blast.''

He was probably referring to beating up of a youth by security men near the site of the incident, immediately after the blast. His uncle Jeewat Jha, also injured, confirmed the beating incident.

Jha said, ``Policemen were holding a youth responsible for the blast but what happened later we do not know.''